LIBRARY 

Of   TMt 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


Accession  No.    O  £,   7.2  \5^  '.Vjss  Mi. 


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K<jC   < 


THOUGHTS 


ON 


EDUCATIONAL   TOPICS 


INSTITUTIONS. 


BY 

GEORGE    S.    BOUTWELL 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED  BY  BROWN  AND  TAGGARD, 

25   &   29   COBNHILL. 

1860. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1859,  by 

GEORGE    8.    BOUTWELL, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


BT 

BOftART    AMD    IIOBBliri,    BOBTOff. 


So 
THE  TEACHERS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 

WHO  SB 
ENLIGHTENED     DEVOTION     TO     THEIR     DUTIES 

HAS 
CONTRIBUTED     EFFECTUALLY    TO     THE    ADVANCEMENT     Or     LEARNING, 

(SCIjts   Folume 

18  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS. 


PAOB 

THE  INTRINSIC  NATURE  AND  VALUE  OF  LEARNING,  AND  ITS 

INFLUENCE  UPON  LABOR, 9 

EDUCATION  AND  CRIME, 49 

REFORMATION  OF  CHILDREN, 75 

THE  CARE  AND  REFORMATION  OF  THE  NEGLECTED  AND  EXPOSED 

CLASSES  OF  CHILDREN, 86 

ELEMENTARY  TRAINING  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS, 131 

THE  RELATIVE  MERITS  OF  PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOLS  AND  EN- 
DOWED ACADEMIES, 152 

THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  SYSTEM 164 

NORMAL  SCHOOL  TRAINING, 203 

^FEMALE  EDUCATION 221 

THE  INFLUENCE,  DUTIES,  AND  REWARDS,  OF  TEACHERS,     .   .   .241 

LIBERTY  AND  LEARNING, 274 

MASSACHUSETTS  SCHOOL  FUND, 308 

•  A  SYSTEM  OF  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION, 339 


THE  INTRINSIC  NATURE  AND  VALUE  OF  LEARNING, 
AND  ITS  INFLUENCE  UPON  LABOR. 

[Lecture  before  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction.] 

WORDS  and  terms  have,  to  different  minds,  vari- 
ous significations  ;  and  we  often  find  definitions 
changing  in  the  progress  of  events.  Bailey  says 
learning  is  "  skill  in  languages  or  sciences."  To 
this,  Walker  adds  what  he  calls  "  literature,"  and 
"  skill  in  anything,  good  or  bad."  Dr.  Webster 
enlarges  the  meaning  of  the  word  still  more,  and 
says,  "  Learning  is  the  knowledge  of  principles  or 
facts  received  by  instruction  or  study ;  acquired 
knowledge  or  ideas  in  any  branch  of  science  or 
literature  ;  erudition  ;  literature  ;  science  ;  knowl- 
edge acquired  by  experience,  experiment,  or  obser- 
vation." Milton  gives  us  a  rhetorical  definition  in 
a  negative  form,  which  is  of  equal  value,  at  least, 
with  any  authority  yet  cited.  "  And  though  a 
linguist,"  says  Milton,  "should  pride  himself  to 
have  all  the  tongues  that  Babel  cleft  the  world  into, 
yet  if  he  have  not  studied  the  solid  things  in  them, 

(9) 


10         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

as  well  as  the  words  and  lexicons,  he  were  noth- 
ing so  much  to  be  esteemed  a  learned  man,  as  any 
yeoman  or  tradesman  competently  wise  in  his 
mother  dialect  only."  — "  Language  is  but  the 
instrument  conveying  to  us  things  useful  to  be 
known." 

This  is  kindred  to  the  saying  of  Locke,  that 
"  men  of  much  reading  are  greatly  learned,  but 
may  be  little  knowing."  We  must  give  to  the 
term  learning  a  broad  definition,  if  we  accept  Mil- 
ton's statement  that  its  end  "  is  to  repair  the  ruins 
of  our  first  parents  by  regaining  to  know  God 
aright ; "  for  this  necessarily  implies  that  we  are 
to  study  carefully  everything  relating  to  the  nature 
of  our  existence,  to  the  spot  and  scene  of  our  exist- 
ence, with  its  mysterious  phenomena,  and  its  com- 
paratively unexplained  laws.  And  we  must,  more- 
fiver,  always  keep  in  view  the  personal  relations 
ami  duties  which  the  Creator  has  imposed  upon  the 
members  of  the  human  race.  The  knowledge  of 
these  relations  and  duties  is  one  form  of  learning ; 
the  disposition  and  the  ability  to  observe  and  prac- 
tise these  relations  and  duties,  is  another  and  a 
higher  form  of  learning.  The  first  is  the  learning 
of  the  theologian,  the  schoolman  ;  the  latter  is  the 
learning  of  the  practical  Christian.  Both  ought  to 
exist:  but  when  they  arc  separated,  we  pla^c 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        11 

above  signs,  facts  above  forms,  life  above  ideas. 
Law  and  justice  ought  always  to  be  united  ;  but 
when  by  error,  or  fraud,  or  usurpation,  they  are 
separated,  we  observe  the  forms  of  law,  but  we 
respect  the  principles  of  justice.  This  is  a  good 
illustration  of  the  principles  which  guide  to  a  true 
distinction  in  the  forms  of  learning.  Of  all  the 
definitions  enumerated,  we  must  give  to  the  word 
learning  the  broadest  signification.  It  is  safe  to 
accept  the  statement  of  the  great  poet,  that  a  man 
may  be  acquainted  with  many  languages,  and  yet 
not  be  learned  ;  even  as  the  apostle  said  he  should 
become  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal,  if  he 
had  not  charity,  though  he  spoke  with  the  tongues 
of  men  and  angels.  Learning  includes,  no  doubt,  a 
knowledge  of  the  languages,  the  sciences,  and  all 
literature  ;  but  it  includes  also  much  else  ;  and  this 
much  else  may  be  more  important  than  the  enumer- 
ated branches.  The  term  learned  has  been  limited, 
usually,  by  exclusive  application  to  the  schoolmen  ; 
but  it  is  a  matter  of  doubt,  especially  in  this  coun- 
try, upon  the  broad  definition  laid  down,  whether 
there  is  more  learning  in  the  schools,  or  out  of  them. 
This  remark,  if  true,  is  no  reflection  upon  the 
schools,  but  much  in  favor  of  the  world.  Those 
were  dark  ages  when  learning  was  confined  to  the 
schools ;  and,  though  we  can  never  be  too  grateful 


12         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

for  their  existence,  and  the  fidelity  with  which  they 
preserved  the  knowledge  of  other  days,  that  is 
surely  a  higher  attainment  in  the  life  of  the  race, 
when  the  learning  of  the  world  exceeds  the  learning 
of  the  cloister,  the  school,  and  the  college. 

In  a  private  conversation,  Professor  Gtryot  made 
a  remark  which  seems  to  have  a  public  value.  "  You 
give  to  your  schools,"  said  he,  "  credit  that  is  really 
due  to  the  world.  Looking  at  America  with  the  eye 
of  an  European,  it  appears  to  me  that  your  world  is 
doing  more  and  your  schools  are  doing  less,  in  the 
cause  of  education,  than  you  are  inclined  to  be- 
lieve." For  one,  though  I  ought,  as  much  as  any, 
to  stand  for  the  schools,  I  give  a  qualified  assent  to 
the  truth  of  this  observation.  There  is  much  learn- 
ing among  us  which  we  cannot  trace  directly  to 
the  schools ;  but  the  schools  have  introduced  and 
fostered  a  spirit  which  has  given  to  the  world  the 
power  to  make  itself  learned.  It  is  much  easier  to 
disseminate  what  is  called  the  spirit  of  education, 
than  it  was  to  create  that  spirit,  and  preserve  it 
when  there  were  few  to  do  it  homage.  For  this  we 
arc  indebted  to  the  schools.  Unobserved  in  the 
process  of  change,  but  happy  in  its  results,  the 
business  of  education  is  not  now  confined  to  profes- 
sional teachers. 

The  greatest  change  of  all  has  been  wrought  by 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        13 

the  attention  given  to  female  education,  so  that  the 
mother  of  this  generation  is  not  compelled  to  rely 
exclusively  upon  the  school  and  the  paid  teacher, 
public  or  private,  but  can  herself,  as  the  teacher 
ordained  by  nature,  aid  her  children  in  the  pre- 
paratory studies  of  life.  This  power  does  not  often 
manifest  itself  in  a  regular  system  of  domestic  school 
studies  and  discipline,  but  its  influence  is  felt  in  a 
higher  home  preparation,  and  in  the  exhibition  of 
better  ideas  of  what  a  school  should  be.  And  we 
may  assume,  with  all  due  respect  to  our  maternal 
ancestry,  that  this  fact  is  a  modern  feature,  compar- 
atively, in  American  civilization.  Female  education 
has  given  rise  to  some  excesses  of  opinion  and  con- 
duct ;  but  the  world  is  entirely  safe,  especially  the 
self-styled  lords  of  creation,  and  may  wisely  advo- 
cate a  system  of  general  education  without  regard 
to  sex,  and  leave  the  effect  to  those  laws  of  nature 
and  revelation  which  are  to  all  and  in  all,  and  cannot 
permanently  be  avoided  or  disobeyed. 

The  number  of  educators  has  strangely  increased, 
and  they  often  appear  where  they  might  least  be 
expected.  We  speak  of  the  revival  of  education, 
and  think  only  of  the  change  that  has  taken  place  in 
the  last  twenty  years  in  the  appropriations  of  money, 
the  style  of  school-houses,  and  the  fitness  of  profes- 
sional teachers  for  the  work  in  which  they  are 
2 


14         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

engaged;  but  these  changes,  though  great,  are 
scarcely  more  noteworthy  than  those  that  have 
occurred  in  the  management  of  our  shops,  mills,  and 
firms.  When  we  write  the  sign  or  utter  the  sound 
which  symbolizes  Teacher,  what  figure,  being,  or 
qualities,  are  brought  before  us  ?  We  should  see  a 
person  who,  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  is  self- 
moving,  and,  in  the  exercise  of  the  influence  which 
knowledge  gives,  is  able  to  appreciate  the  qualities 
of  others;  and  who;  moreover,  possesses  enough  of 
inventive  power  to  devise  means  by  which  he  can 
lead  pupils,  students,  or  hearers,  in  the  way  they 
ought  to  go.  We  naturally  look  for  such  persons  in 
the  lecture-room,  the  school,  and  the  pulpit.  And 
we  find  them  there  ;  but  they  are  also  to  be  found  in 
other  places.  There  are  thousands  of  such  men  in 
America,  engaged  in  the  active  pursuits  of  the  day. 
They  are  farmers,  mechanics,  merchants,  operatives. 
They  do  not  often  follow  text-books,  and  therefor 
are  none  the  worse,  but  much  the  better  teachers. 
Insensibly  they  have  taken  on  the  spirit  of  the 
teacher  and  the  school,  and,  apparently  ignorant  of 
the  fact,  are,  in  the  quiet  pursuits  of  daily  life, 
leaders  of  classes  following  some  great  thought,  or 
devoted  to  some  practical  investigation.  And  in 
one  respect  these  teachers  are  of  a  higher  order  than 
x/me  —  not  all,  nor  most  —  of  our  professional  teach- 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        15 

ers.  They  never  cease  to  be  students.  When  a 
man  or  woman  puts  on  the  garb  of  the  teacher,  and 
throws  off  the  garb  of  the  student,  you  will  soon 
find  that  person  so  dwindled  and  dwarfed,  that  nei- 
ther will  hang-  upon  the  shoulders.  This  happens 
sometimes  in  the  school,  but  never  in  the  world. 

The  last  twenty-five  years  have  produced  two  new 
features  in  our  civilization,  that  are  at  once  a  cause 
and  a  product  of  learning.  I  speak  of  the  Press, 
and  of  Associations  for  mutual  improvement. 

The  newspaper  press  of  America,  having  its  cen- 
tre in  the  city  of  New  York,  is  more  influential  than 
the  press  of  any  other  country.  It  may  not  be  con- 
ducted with  greater  ability  ;  though,  if  compared 
with  the  English  press,  the  chief  difference  unfavor- 
able to  America  is  found  in  the  character  of  the  lead- 
ing editorial  articles.  In  enterprise,  in  telegraphic 
business,  maritime,  and  political  news  and  informa- 
tion, the  press  of  the  United  States  is  not  behind 
that  of  Great  Britain. 

It  must,  however,  be  admitted  that  a  given  sub- 
ject is  usually  more  thoroughly  discussed  in  a  single 
issue  from  the  English  press  ;  but  it  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  public  questions  are,  upon  the  whole, 
better  canvassed  in  England  than  in  America.  In- 
deed, the  opposite  is  probably  true.  Our  press  will 
follow  a  subject  day  after  day,  with  the  aid  of  now 


16         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

thoughts  and  facts,  until  it  is  well  understood  by 
the  reader.  European  ideas  of  journalism  cannot  l»o 
followed  blindly  by  the  press  of  America.  The  jour- 
nalist in  Europe  writes  for  a  select  few.  His  readers 
are  usually  persons  of  leisure,  if  they  have  not 
always  culture  and  taste  ;  and  the  issue  of  the  morn- 
ing paper  is  to  them  what  the  appearance  of  the 
quarterly,  heavy  or  racy,  is  to  the  cultivated  Amer- 
ican reader. 

But  the  American  journalist,  whatever  his  taste 
may  be,  cannot  afford  to  address  himself  to  so  small 
an  audience.  lie  writes  literally  for  the  million ;  fur 
I  take  it  to  be  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  para- 
graphs and  articles  are  often  read  by  millions  of 
people  in  America.  This  fact  is  an  important  one, 
as  it  furnishes  a  good  test  of  the  standard  taste  and 
learning  of  the  people.  Our  press  answers  the  de- 
mand which  the  people  make  upon  it.  The  mass 
of  newspaper  readers  are  not,  iu  a  scholastic  sense, 
well-educated  persons.  Newspaper  writers  do  not, 
therefore,  trouble  themselves  about  the  colleges  with 
their  professors,  but  they  seek  rather  to  gain  the 
attention  and  secure  the  support  of  the  great  body 
of  the  people,  who  know  nothing  of  colleges  except 
through  the  newspapers.  We  have  always  been 
permitted  to  infer  the  intellectual  and  moral  char- 
acter of  the  audiences  of  Demosthenes,  from  the  ora- 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.         17 

tions  of  Demosthenes ;  and  may  we  not  also  infer 
the  character  of  the  American  people,  from  the  char- 
acter of  the  press  that  they  support  ?  In  a  single 
issue  may  often  be  found  an  editorial  article  upon 
some  question  of  present  interest ;  a  sermon,  address, 
or  speech,  from  a  leading1  mind  of  the  country  or  the 
world ;  letters  from  various  quarters  of  the  globe  ; 
extracts  from  established  literary  and  scientific  jour- 
nals ;  original  essays  upon  political,  literary,  scien- 
tific, and  religious  subjects  ;  and  items  of  local  or 
general  interest  for  all  classes  of  readers.  This  prod- 
uct of  the  press,  in  quantity  and  quality,  could  not 
be  distributed,  week  after  week,  and  year  after  year, 
among  an  ignorant  class  of  people.  It  could  be 
accepted  by  intelligent,  thinking,  progressive  minds 
only ;  and,  as  a  fact  necessarily  coexisting,  we  find 
the  newspaper  press  equally  essential  to  the  best- 
educated  persons  among  us.  The  newspaper  press 
in  America  is  a  century  and  a  half  old  ;  but  its 
power  does  not  antedate  this  century,  and  its 
growth  has  been  chiefly  within  the  last  twenty-five 
years.  What  that  growth  has  been  may  be  easily 
seen  by  any  one  who  will  compare  the  daily  sheet 
of  the  last  generation  with  the  daily  sheet  of  this  ; 
and  the  future  of  the  American  press  may  be  easily 
predicted  by  those  who  consider  the  progressive 
2* 


18         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

influences  among  us,  of  which  the  newspaper  must 
always  be  the  truest  representative. 

Within  the  same  brief  period  of  time  it  hasbecomo 
the  fixed  custom  of  the  people  to  associate  together 
for  educational  objects. 

As  a  consequence,  we  have  the  lyceum  for  all, 
libraries  for  all,  professional  institutes  and  clubs  for 
merchants,  mechanics,  and  farmers,  and,  at  last,  frco 
libraries  and  lectures  for  the  operatives  in  the  mills. 
Where  these  institutions  can  exist,  there  must  be  a 
high  order  of  general  learning ;  and  where  these 
institutions  do  exist,  and  are  sustained,  the  learning 
of  the  people,  whether  high  or  low  at  any  given 
moment,  must  be  rapidly  improved.  Yet  some  of 
these  agencies  —  lectures  and  libraries,  for  example 
— are  not  free  from  serious  faults.  It  may  seem  rash 
and  indefensible  to  criticize  lectures  upon  the  plat- 
form of  the  lecturer  ;  but,  aa  the  audience  can  inflict 
whatever  penalty  they  please  upon  the  speaker,  he 
will  so  far  assume  responsibility  as  to  say  that 
amusement  is  not  the  highest  object  of  a  single  lec- 
ture, and  when  sought  by  managers  as  the  desirable 
object  of  a  whole  course,  the  lecture-room  becomes 
a  theatre  of  dissipation  ;  surely  not  so  bad  as  other 
forms  of  dissipation,  but  yet  so  distinctly  marked, 
and  so  pernicious  in  its  influence,  as  to  be  compara- 
ly  unworthy  of  general  support.  Let  it  not, 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        19 


however,  be  inferred  that  wit,  humor,  and  drollery 
even,  are  to  be  excluded  from  the  lecture-room  ;  but 
they  should  always  be  employed  as  means  by  which 
information  is  communicated.  Between  lecturers 
equal  in  other  respects,  one  with  the  salt  of  humor, 
native  to  the  soil,  should  be  preferred  ;  but  it  is  a 
sad  reflection  upon  public  taste,  when  a  person 
whose  entire  intellectual  capital  is  wit,  humor,  or 
buffoonery,  is  preferred  to  men  of  solid  learning. 
But  it  is  a  worse  view  of  human  nature,  when  men 
of  real  merit  and  worth  depreciate  themselves  and 
lower  the  public  taste,  by  attempting  to  do  what,  at 
best,  they  can  have  but  ill  success  in,  and  what  they 
would  despise  themselves  for,  were  they  to  succeed 
completely.  Shakspeare  says  of  a  jester : 

"  This  fellow  's  wise  enough  to  play  the  fool ; 
And  to  do  that  well,  craves  a  kind  of  wit : 
****** 

This  is  a  practice 

As  full  of  labor  as  a  wise  man's  art : 
For  folly,  that  he  wisely  shows,  is  fit ; 
But  wise  men,  folly-fallen,  quite  taint  their  wit.'* 

A  kindred  mental  dissipation  follows  in  the  steps 
of  progress,  and  demands  aliment  from  our  public 
libraries.  In  the  selection  of  books  there  is  a  wide 
range,  from  the  trashy  productions  of  the  fifth- 


20         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

rate  novelist,  to  stately  history  and  exact  science. 
It  is,  however,  to  be  assumed  that  libraries  will  not 
be  established  until  they  are  wanted,  and  that  the 
want  will  not  be  pressing  until  there  is  a  taste  for 
reading  somewhat  general.  Where  this  taste  exists, 
it  is  fair  to  assume  that  it  is  in  some  degree  ele- 
vated. The  direction,  however,  which  the  taste  of 
any  community  is  to  take,  after  the  establishment 
of  a  public  library,  depends,  in  a  great  degree,  upon 
the  selection  of  books  for  its  shelves.  Two  dangers 
are  to  be  avoided.  The  first,  and  greatest,  is  the 
selection  of  books  calculated  to  degrade  the  morals 
or  intellect  of  the  reader.  This  danger  is  apparent, 
and  to  be  shunned  needs  but  to  be  seen.  Books,  of 
more  or  less  intrinsic  value,  are  so  abundant  and 
cheap,  that  common  men  must  go  out  of  their  way 
to  gather  a  large  collection  that  shall  not  contain 
works  of  real  merit.  But  the  object  should  be  to 
exclude  all  worthless  and  pernicious  works,  and 
meet  and  improve  the  ^  public  taste,  by  offering  it 
mental  food  better  than  that  to  which  it  has  been 
accustomed.  The  other  danger  is  negative,  rather 
than  positive  ;  but,  as  books  are  comparatively 
worthless  when  they  are  not  read,  it  becomes  a 
matter  of  great  moment  to  select  such  as  will  touch 
the  public  mind  at  a  few  points,  at  least.  It  is 
indeed  possible,  and,  under  the  guidance  of  some 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        21 

persons,  it  would  be  natural,  to  encumber  the 
shelves  of  a  library  with  good  books  that  might 
ever  remain  so,  saving  only  the  contributions  made 
to  mould  and  mice. 

Now,  if  you  will  pardon  a  little  more  fault-finding, 
—  which  is,  I  confess,  a  quality  without  merit,  or, 
as  Byron  has  it, 

**  A  man  must  serve  his  time  to  every  trade 
Save  censure — critics  all  are  ready  made,"  — 

I  will  hazard  the  opinion  that  the  practice  of  estab- 
lishing libraries  in  towns  for  the  benefit  of  a  portion 
of  the  inhabitants  only  is  likely  to  prove  pernicious 
in  the  end.  To  be  sure,  reading  for  some  is  better 
than  reading  for  none  ;  but  reading  for  all  is  better 
than  either.  In  Massachusetts  there  is  a  general 
law  that  permits  cities  and  towns  to  raise  money  for 
the  support  of  libraries  ;  yet  the  legislature,  in  a 
few  cases,  has  granted  charters  to  library  associa- 
tions. With  due  deference*  it  may  very  well  be 
suggested,  that,  where  a  spirit  exists  which  leads 
a  few  individuals  to  ask  for  a  charter,  it  would  be 
better  to  turn  this  spirit  into  a  public  channel,  that 
all  might  enjoy  its  benefits.  And  it  will  happen,  gen- 
erally, that  the  establishment  of  a  public  library  will 
be  less  expensive  to  the  friends  of  the  movement, 
and  the  advantages  will  be  greater ;  while  there  will 


22         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

be  an  additional  satisfaction  in  the  good  conferred 
upon  others. 

We  shall  act  wisely  if  we  apply  to  books  a  maxim 
of  the  Greeks  :  "  All  things  in  common  amongst 
friends."  Under  this  maxim  Cicero  has  enumerated, 
as  principles  of  humanity,  not  to  deny  one  a  little 
running  water,  or  the  lighting  his  fire  by  ours,  if  he 
has  occasion  ;  to  give  the  best  counsel  we  are  able 
to  one  who  is  in  doubt  or  distress  ;  which,  says  he, 
"are  things  that  do  good  to  the  person  that  re- 
ceives them,  and  are  no  loss  or  trouble  to  him  that 
confers  them."  And  he  quotes,  with  approbation, 
the  words  of  Ennius  : 

"  He  that  directs  the  wandering  traveller 
Doth,  as  it  were,  light  another's  torch  by  his  own; 
Which  gives  him  ne'er  the  less  of  light,  for  that 
It  gave  another." 

A  good  book  is  a  guide  to  the  reader,  and  a  well- 
selected  library  will  be.  a  guide  to  many.  And  shall 
we  give  a  little  running  water,  and  turn  aside  or 
choke  up  the  streams  of  knowledge  ?  light  the  even- 
ing torch,  and  leave  the  immortal  mind  unillumincd  ? 
give  free  counsel  to  the  ignorant  or  distressed, 
when  he  might  easily  be  qualified  to  act  as  his  own 
counsellor?  In  July  1856,  Mr.  Everett  gave  five 
hundred  dollars  toward  a  library  for  the  High  School 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        23 

in  his  native  town  of  Dorchester  ;  and  in  1854  Mr. 
Abbott  Lawrence  gave  an  equal  sum  to  his  native 
town  for  the  establishment  of  a  public  library. 
These  are  not  large  donations,  if  we  consider  only 
the  amount  of  money  given  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to 
suggest  any  other  equal  appropriation  that  would 
be  as  beneficial,  in  a  public  sense.  These  donations 
are  noble,  because  conceived  in  a  spirit  of  compre- 
hensive liberality.  They  are  examples  worthy  of 
imitation  ;  and  I  venture  to  affirm,  there  is  not  one 
of  our  New  England  towns  that  has  not  given  to 
the  world  a  son  able  to  make  a  similar  contribution 
to  the  cause  of  general  learning.  Is  it  too  much  to 
believe  that  a  public  library  in  a  town  will  double 
the  number  of  persons  having  a  taste  for  reading, 
and  consequently  double  the  number  of  well-edu- 
cated people  ?  For,  though  we  are  not  educated  by 
mere  reading,  it  is  yet  likely  to  happen  that  one 
who  has  a  taste  for  books  will  also  acquire  habits 
of  observation,  study,  and  reflection. 

Professional  institutes  and  clubs  also  serve  to 
increase  the  sum  of  general  learning.  They  have 
thus  far  avoided  the  evil  which  has  waited  or  fast- 
ened upon  similar  associations  in  Europe,  —  subser- 
viency to  political  designs.  Every  profession  or 
interest  of  labor  has  peculiar  ideas  and  special  pur- 
poses. These  ideas  and  purposes  may  be  wisely 


24         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

promoted  by  distinct  organizations.  Who  can  doubt 
the  utility  of  associations  of  merchants,  mechanics, 
and  farmers  ?  They  furnish  opportunities  for  the 
exchange  of  opinions,  the  exhibition  of  products,  the 
dissemination  of  ideas,  and  the  knowledge  of  im- 
provements, that  are  thus  wisely  made  the  property 
of  all.  Knowledge  begets  knowledge.  What  is  the 
distinguishing  fact  between  a  good  school  and  a 
poor  one  ?  Is  it  not,  that  in  a  good  school  the  pre- 
vailing public  sentiment  is  on  the  side  of  knowledge 
and  its  acquisition  ?  And  does  not  the  same  fact 
distinguish  a  learned  community  from  an  ignorant 
community  ?  If,  in  a  village  or  city  of  artisans,  each 
one  makes  a  small  annual  contribution  to  the  gen- 
eral stock  of  knowledge,  the  aggregate  progress  will 
be  appreciable,  and,  most  likely,  considerable.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  each  one  plods  by  himself,  the 
sum  of  professional  knowledge  cannot  be  increased, 
and  is  likely  to  be  diminished. 

The  moral  of  the  parable  of  the  ten  talents  is  em- 
inently true  in  matters  of  learning.  "  Unto  every 
one  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have 
abundance  :  but  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be 
taken  away  even  that  which  he  hath."  We  cannot 
conceive  of  a  greater  national  calamity  than  an 
industrial  population  delving  in  mental  sluggishness 
at  unrelieved  and  unchanging  tasks.  The  manufao 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        25 

lure  of  pins  was  commenced  in  England  in  1583, 
and  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  she  had  the  ex- 
clusive control  of  the  trade  ;  yet  all  that  period 
passed  away  without  improvement,  or  change  in  the 
process  ;  while  in  America  the  business  was  revolu- 
tionized, simplified,  and  economized  one-half,  in  the 
period  of  five  years.  In  1840  the  valuation  of  Mas- 
sachusetts was  about  three  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars ;  but  it  is  certain  that  a  large  portion  of  this 
sum  should  have  been  set  off  against  the  constant 
impoverishment  of  the  land,  commencing  with  the 
settlement  of  the  state,  —  the  natural  and  unavoida- 
ble result  of  an  ignorant  system  of  farm  labor.  The 
revival  of  education  in  America  was  soon  followed 
by  a  marked  improvement  in  the  leading  industries 
of  the  people,  and  especially  in  the  department 
of  agriculture.  The  principle  of  association  has  not 
yet  been  as  beneficial  to  the  farmers  as  to  the  me- 
chanics ;  but  the  former  are  soon  to  be  compensated 
for  the  delay.  With  the  exception  of  the  business 
of  discovering  small  planets,  which  seem  to  have 
been  created  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  rivalry 
among  a  number  of  enthusiastic,  well-minded,  but 
comparatively  secluded  gentlemen,  agricultural  learn- 
ing has  made  the  most  marked  progress  in  the  last 
ten  years.  But  an  agricultural  population  is  profes- 
sionally an  inert  population  ;  and,  therefore,  as  in 
3 


26         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

the  accumulation  of  John  Jacob  Astor's  fortune,  it 
was  more  difficult  to  take  the  first  step  than  to 
make  all  the  subsequent  movements.  Now,  how- 
ever, the  principle  of  association  is  giving  direction 
and  force  to  the  labors  of  the  farmer  ;  and  it  is  easy 
for  any  person  to  draw  to  himself,  in  that  pursuit, 
the  results  of  the  learning  of  the  world. 

Libraries  ^nd  lectures  for  the  operatives  in  the 
manufactories  constitute  another  agency  in  the 
cause  of  general  learning.  The  city  of  Lawrence, 
under  the  lead  of  well-known  public-spirited  gentle- 
men there,  has  the  honor  of  introducing  the  system 
in  America.  A  movement,  to  which  this  is  kindred, 
was  previously  made  in  England ;  but  that  move- 
ment had  for  its  object  the  education  of  the  opera- 
tives in  the  simple  elements  of  learning,  and  among 
the  females  in  a  knowledge  of  household  duties. 
An  English  writer  says  :  "  Many  employers  have 
already  established  schools  in  connection  with  their 
manufactories.  From  many  instances  before  us,  we 
may  take  that  of  Mr.  Morris,  of  Manchester,  who 
has  risen,  himself,  from  the  condition  of  a  factory 
operative,  and  who  has  felt  in  his  own  person  the 
dfa>rty^«ta§cin  under  which  that  class  of  workmen 
labor.  He  has  introduced  many  judicious  improve- 
ments. He  has  spent  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  in  ventilating  his  mills ;  and  has  csf al»- 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        27 

lished  a  library,  coffee-room,  class-room,  weekly 
lectures,  and  a  system  of  industrial  training.  The 
latter  has  been  established  for  females,  of  whom  he 
employs  a  great  many.  This  class  of  girls  gener- 
ally go  to  the  mills  without  any  knowledge  of  house- 
hold duties  ;  they  are  taught  in  the  schools  to  sew, 
knit/7  etc. 

But,  in  the  provision  made  at  Lawrence  for  intel- 
lectual culture,  it  is  assumed,  very  properly,  that 
the  operatives  are  familiar  with  the  branches  usually 
taught  in  the  public  schools.  This  could  not  be 
assumed  of  an  English  manufacturing  population, 
nor,  indeed,  of  any  town  population,  considered  as 
a  whole.  Herein  America  has  an  advantage  over 
England.  Our  laborers  occupy  a  higher  standpoint 
intellectually,  and  in  that  proportion  their  labors 
are  more  effective  and  economical.  The  managers 
and  proprietors  at  Lawrence  were  influenced  by  a 
desire  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  laborers,  and 
had  no  regard  to  any  pecuniary  return  to  them- 
selves, either  immediate  or  remote.  And  it  would 
be  a  sufficient  satisfaction  to  witness  the  growth 
of  knowledge  and  morality,  thereby  elevating 
society,  and  rendering  its  institutions  more  se- 
cure. 

These  higher  results  will  be  accompanied,  how- 
ever, by  others  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  con- 


28         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

sidered.  When  we  hire,  or,  what  is,  for  this  in- 
quiry, the  same  thing,  buy  that  commodity  called 
labor,  what  do  we  expect  to  get  ?  Is  it  merely  the 
physical  force,  the  animal  life  contained  in  a  given 
quantity  of  muscle  and  bone  ?  In  ordinary  cases 
we  expect  these,  but  in  all  cases  we  expect  some- 
thing more.  We  sometimes  buy,  and  at  a  very  high 
cost,  too,  what  has,  as  a  product,  the  least  conceiv- 
able amount  of  manual  labor  in  it,  —  a  professional 
opinion,  for  example  ;  but  we  never  buy  physical 
strength  merely,  nor  physical  strength  at  all,  unless 
it  is  directed  by  some  intellectual  force.  The  de- 
scending stream  has  power  to  drive  machinery,  and 
the  arm  of  the  idiot  has  force  for  some  mechanical 
service,  but  they  equally  lack  the  directing  mind. 
We  are  not  so  unwise  as  to  purchase  the  power 
of  the  stream,  or  the  force  of  the  idiot's  arm  ; 
but  we  pay  for  its  application  in  the  thing  pro- 
duced, and  we  often  pay  more  for  the  skill  that 
has  directed  the  power  than  for  the  power  itself. 
The  river  that  now  moves  the  machinery  of  a 
factory  in  which  many  scores  of  men  and  women 
find  their  daily  labor,  and  earn  their  daily  bread, 
was  employed  a  hundred  years  ago  in  driving  a 
single  set  of  mill-stones  ;  and  thus  a  man  and  boy 
were  induced  to  divide  their  time  lazily  between  the 
grist  in  the  hopper  and  the  fish  under  the  dam. 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        29 

The  river's  power  has  not  changed  ;  but  the  invent- 
ive, creative  genius  of  man  has  been  applied  to 
it,  and  new  and  astonishing  results  are  produced. 
With  man  himself  this  change  has  been  even  great- 
er. In  proportion  to  the  population  of  the  countiy, 
we  are  daily  dispensing  with  manual  labor,  and  yet 
we  are  daily  increasing  the  national  production. 
There  is  more  mind  directing  the  machinery  pro- 
pelled by  the  forces  of  nature,  and  more  mind  direct- 
ing the  machinery  of  the  human  body.  The  result 
is,  that  a  given  product  is  furnished  by  less  outlay 
of  physical  force.  Formerly,  with  the  old  spinning- 
wheel  and  hand-loom,  we  put  a  great  deal  of  bone 
and  muscle  into  a  yard  of  cloth  ;  now  we  put  in 
very  little.  We  have  substituted  mind  for  physical 
force,  and  the  question  is,  which  is  the  more  eco- 
nomical ?  Or,  in  other  words,  is  it  of  any  conse- 
quence to  the  employer  whether  the  laborer  is 
ignorant  or  intelligent  ? 

Before  we  discuss  this  point  abstractly,  let  us 
notice  the  conduct  of  men.  Is  any  one  willing  to 
give  an  ignorant  farm  laborer  as  much  as  he  is 
ready  to  pay  for  the  services  of  an  intelligent  man  ? 
And  if  not,  why  the  distinction  ?  And  if  an  igno- 
rant man  is  not  the  best  man  upon  a  farm,  is  he 
likely  to  be  so  in  a  shop  or  mill  ?  And  if  not,  we 
see  how  the  proprietors  of  factories  are  interested 
3* 


30         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

in  elevating  the  standard  of  learning,  in  the  mills 
and  outside.  But  they  are  not  singular  in  this.  All 
classes  of  employers  are  equally  concerned  in  the 
education  of  the  laborer ;  for  learning  not  only  makes 
his  labor  more  valuable  to  himself,  but  the  market 
price  of  the  product  is  generally  reduced,  and  the 
change  affects  favorably  all  interests  of  society. 
This  benefit  is  one  of  the  first  in  point  of  time,  and 
the  one,  perhaps,  most  appreciable  of  all  which 
learning  has  conferred  upon  the  laborer.  As  each 
laborer,  with  the  same  expenditure  of  physical  force, 
produces  a  greater  result,  of  course  the  aggregate 
products  of  the  world  are  vastly  increased,  although 
they  represent  only  the  same  number  of  laborers 
that  a  less  quantity  would  have  represented  under 
an  ignorant  system. 

The  division  of  these  products  upon  any  principle 
conceivable  leaves  for  the  laborer  a  larger  quantity 
than  he  could  have  before  commanded ;  for,  although 
the  share  of  the  wealthy  may  be  ^disproportionate, 
their  ability  to  consume  is  limited  ;  and,  as  poverty 
is  the  absence  or  want  of  things  necessary  and  con- 
venient for  the  purposes  of  life,  according  to  the 
ideas  at  the  time  entertained,  we  see  how  a  laboring 
population,  necessarily  poor  while  ignorance  pre- 
vails, is  elevated  to  a  position  of  greater  social  and 
physical  comfort,  as  mind  takes  the  place  of  bruto 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        31 

force  in  the  industries  of  the  world.  Learning,  then, 
is  not  the  result  of  social  comfort,  but  social  comfort 
is  the  product  of  intelligence,  and  increases  or  dimin- 
ishes as  intelligence  is  general  or  limited.  It  is  not, 
however,  to  be  taken  as  granted  that  each  laborer's 
position  corresponds  or  answers  to  the  sum  of  his 
own  knowledge.  It  might  happen  that  an  ignorant 
laborer  would  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  general 
culture,  to  which  he  contributed  little  or  nothing ; 
and  it  must  of  necessity  also  happen  that  an  intelli- 
gent laborer,  in  the  midst  of  an  ignorant  population, 
as  in  Ireland  or  India,  for  example,  would  be  com- 
pelled to  accept,  in  the  main,  the  condition  of  those 
around  him.  But  there  is  no  evidence  on  the  face 
of  society  now,  or  in  its  history,  that  an  ignorant 
population,  whether  a  laboring  population  or  not, 
has  ever  escaped  from  a  condition  of  poverty.  And 
the  converse  of  the  proposition  is  undoubtedly  true, 
that  an  intelligent  laboring  •  community  will  soon 
become  a  wealthy  community.  Learning  is  sure  to 
produce  wealth ;  wealth  is  likely  to  contribute  to 
learning,  but  it  does  not  necessarily  produce  it. 
Hence  it  follows  that  learning  is  the  only  means  by 
which  the  poor  can  escape  from  their  poverty. 

In  this  statement  it  is  assumed  that  education 
does  not  promote  vice  ;  and  not  only  is  this  negative 
assumption  true,  but  it  is  safe  to  assume,  further,  that 


32         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

education  favors  virtue,  and  that  any  given  popula- 
tion will  be  less  vicious  when  educated  than  when 
ignorant.  This,  I  cannot  doubt,  is  a  general  truth, 
subject,  of  course,  to  some  exceptions. 

The  educational  struggle  in  which  the  English 
people  are  now  engaged  has  made  distinct  and 
tangible  certain  opinions  and  impressions  that  are 
latent  in  many  minds.  There  has  been  an  attempt 
to  show  that  vice  has  increased  in  proportion  to 
education.  This  attempt  has  failed,  though  there 
may  be  found,  of  course,  in  all  countries,  single  facts, 
or  classes  of  facts,  that  seem  to  sustain  such  an 
opinion. 

Now,  suppose  this  case,  —  and  neither  this  case 
nor  any  similar  one  has  ever  occurred  in  real  life, — 
but  suppose  crime  to  increase  as  a  people  were  edu- 
cated, though  there  should  be  no  increase  of  popula- 
tion ;  would  this  fact  prove  that  learning  made  men 
worse  ?  By  no  means.  Our  answer  is  apparent  on 
the  face  of  the  change  itself.  By  education,  the 
business  and  pecuniary  relations  and  transactions 
of  a  people  are  almost  indefinitely  multiplied  ;  and 
temptations  to  crime,  especially  to  crimes  against 
property,  are  multiplied  in  an  equal  ratio.  Would 
person  or  property  be  better  respected  in  New  York 
or  Boston,  if  the  most  ignorant  population  of  the 
world  could  be  substituted  for  the  present  inhab- 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        33 

itants  of  those  cities  ?  The  business  nerves  of  men 
are  frequently  shocked  by  some  unexpected  defalca- 
tion, and  short-sighted  moralists,  who  lack  faith, 
exclaim,  "All  this  is  because  men  know  so  much  !  " 
Such  certainly  forget  that  for  every  defaulter  in  a 
city  there  are  hundreds  of  honest  men,  who  receive 
and  render  justly  unto  all,  and  hold  without  check 
the  fortunes  of  others.  So  Mr.  Drummond  argued 
in  the  British  House  of  Commons  against  a  national 
system  of  education,  because  wrhat  he  was  pleased 
to  call  instruction  had  not  saved  William  Palmer  and 
John  Sadlier.  But  the  truth  in  this  matter  is  not  at 
the  bottom  of  a  well ;  it  is  upon  the  surface.  Where 
it  is  the  habit  of  society  generally  to  be  ignorant, 
you  will  find  it  the  necessity  of  that  society  to  be 
poor;  and  where  ignorance  and  poverty  both  abound, 
the  temptations  to  crime  are  unquestionably  few,  but 
the  power  to  resist  temptation  is  as  unquestionably 
weak.  The  absence  of  crime  is  owing  to  the  absence 
of  temptation,  rather  than  to  the  presence  of  virtue. 
Such  a  condition  of  society  is  as  near  to  real  virtue 
as  the  mental  weakness  of  the  idiot  is  to  true  happi- 
ness. 

Turning  again  to  the  discussion  in  the  British  Par- 
liament of  April,  1856,  we  are  compelled  to  believe 
that  some  English  statesmen  are,  in  principle  and  in 
their  ideas  of  political  economy,  where  a  portion  of 


34         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

the  English  cotton-spinners  were  a  hundred  years 
ago.  The  cotton-spinners  thought  the  invention  of 
labor-saving  machinery  would  deprive  them  of  bread; 
and  a  Mr.  Ball  gravely  argues  that  schools  will  so 
occupy  the  attention  of  children,  that  the  farmers' 
crops  will  be  neglected.  I  am  inclined  to  give  you 
his  own  words  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  be  in 
a  measure  relieved  of  the  dulness  of  this  essay,  when 
you  listen  to  what  was  actually  cheered  in  the  Brit- 
ish Commons.  Speaking  of  the  resolutions  in  favor 
of  a  national  system  of  instruction,  Mr.  Ball  said : 
"  It  was  important  to  consider  what  would  be  their 
bearing  on  the  agricultural  districts  of  the  country. 
He  had  obtained  a  return  from  his  own  farm,  and, 
supposing  the  principles  advocated  by  the  noble 
lord  were  adopted,  the  results  would  be  perfectly 
fearful.  The  following  was  the  return  he  had  ob- 
tained from  his  agent :  William  Chapman,  ten  years 
a  servant  on  his  (Mr.  Ball's)  farm;  his  own  wages 
thirteen  shillings,  besides  a  house ;  ho  had  seven 
children,  who  earned  nine  shillings  a  week  ;  making 
together  twenty-two  shillings  a  week.  Robert  Arbor, 
fifteen  years  on  the  farm  ;  wages  thirteen  shillings  a 
week,  and  a  house ;  six  children,  who  earned  six 
shillings  a  week ;  making  together  nineteen  shil- 
lings. John  Stevens,  thirty-three  years  a  servant 
on  the  farm  ;  his  own  wages  fourteen  shillings  a 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        35 

week  ;  he  had  brought  up  ten  children,  whose  aver- 
age earnings  had  been  twelve  shillings  weekly,  mak- 
ing together  twenty-six  shillings  a  week.  Robert 
Carbon,  twenty-two  years  a  servant  on  the  farm  ; 
wages  thirteen  shillings  a  week  ;  having  ten  chil- 
dren, who  earned  ten  shillings  a  week  ;  making 
together  twenty-three  shillings  a  week.  Thus  it 
appeared  that  in  these  four  families  the  fathers 
earned  fifty-three  shillings  weekly,  and  the  children 
thirty-seven  shillings  a  week  ;  so  that  the  children 
earned  something  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  amount 
of  the  earnings  of  the  fathers.  He  would  ask  the 
house,  if  the  fathers  were  to  be  deprived  of  the  earn- 
ings of  the  children,  how  could  they  provide  bread 
for  them  ?  It  was  perfectly  impossible.  They  must 
either  increase  the  parent's  wages  to  the  amount  of 
the  loss  he  thus  sustained,  or  they  must  make  it  up 
to  him  from  a  rate.  Then,  again,  those  who  were  at 
all  conversant  with  agriculture  knew  that  if  they 
deprived  the  farmer  of  the  labor  of  children,  agri- 
culture could  not  be  carried  on.  There  was  no 
machinery  by  which  they  could  get  the  weeds  out 
of  the  land.'7 — London  Times. 

The  light  which  this  statement  furnishes  is  not 
hid  under  a  bushel.  The  argument  deserves  a  more 
logical  form,  and  I  proceed  gratuitously  to  give  the 
author  the  benefit  of  a  scientific  arrangement.  "  If 


36         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

a  national  system  of  education  is  adopted,  the  chil- 
dren of  my  tenants  will  be  sent  to  school ;  if  the 
children  of  my  tenants  are  sent  to  school,  my  turnips 
will  not  be  weeded  ;  if  my  turnips  are  not  weeded,  I 
shall  eat  fat  mutton  no  more." 

After  this  from  a  statesman,  we  need  not  wonder 
that  a  correspondent  of  Lord  John  Russell  writes, 
"  That  a  farmer  near  him  has  been  heard  to  say,  he 
would  not  give  anything  to  a  day-school ;  he  finds 
that  since  Sunday-schools  have  been  established  the 
birds  have  increased  and  eat  his  corn,  and  because 
he  cannot  now  procure  the  services  of  the  boys, 
whom  he  used  to  employ  the  whole  of  Sunday,  in 
protecting  his  fields. " — London  Times,  April  13/Ti, 
1856. 

Now,  I  do  not  go  to  England  for  the  purpose  of 
making  an  attack  upon  her  opinions ;  but,  as  kindred 
ideas  prevail  among  us,  though  to  a  limited  extent 
only,  the  folly  of  them  may  be  seen  in  persons  at  a 
distance,  when  it  would  not  be  realized  by  ourselves. 
over,  the  presentation  of  these  somewhat  ridic- 
ulous notions  brings  ridicule  upon  a  whole  class  of 
errors  ;  and  when  errors  arc  so  ingrained  that  men 
cannot  reason  in  regard  to  them,  ridicule  is  often  the 
only  weapon  of  successful  attack.  And  it  is  no 
compliment  to  an  American  audience  for  the  speaker 
to  say  that  their  own  minds  already  suggest  the 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        37 

refutation  which  these  errors  demand.  If  the  chief 
end  of  man,  for  whdch  boyhood  should  be  a  prepara- 
tion, were  to  weed  turnips  or  to  frighten  blackbirds 
from  corn-fields,  then  surely  the  objection  of  Mr. 
Ball,  and  the  complaint  and  spirit  of  resistance 
offered  by  Lord  John  Russell's  farmer,  would  be 
eminently  proper.  But  Lord  John  Russell  did  not 
himself  assent  to  the  view  furnished  by  his  corres- 
pondent. Mr.  Ball's  theory  evidently  is,  "  Take  good 
care  of  the  turnips,  and  leave  the  culture  of  the  boys 
and  girls  to  chance  ;  "  and  Lord  John  Russell's  wise 
farmer  unquestionably  thinks  that  cereal  peculations 
of  blackbirds  are  more  dangerous  than  the  robberies 
committed  by  neglected  children,  grown  to  men. 

Mr.  Clay,  chaplain  of  Preston  jail,  says  :  "  Thirty- 
BIX  per  cent,  come  into  jail  unable  to  say  the  Lord's 
Prayer ;  and  seventy-two  per  cent,  come  in  such  a 
state  of  moral  debasement  that  it  is  in  vain  to  give 
them  instruction,  or  to  teach  them  their  duty,  since 
they  cannot  understand  the  meaning  of  the  words 
used  to  them."  Here  we  have,  as  cause  and  effect, 
the  philosophy  of  Mr.  Ball,  and  the  facts  of  Mr. 
Clay.  And,  further,  this  philosophy  is  as  bad  in 
principle,  when  tried  by  the  rules  of  political  econ- 
omy, as  when  subjected  to  moral  and  Christian  tests. 

Mr.  Ball  says  there  is  no  machinery  by  which  the 
farmers  can  get  the  weeds  out  of  the  land.  This 
4 


38         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

may  be  true ;  and  once  there  was  no  machinery  by 
which  they  could  get  the  seed  into  the  land,  or  the 
crops  from  it.  Once  there  was  little  or  no  inventive 
power  among  the  mechanics,  or  scientific  knowl- 
edge, or  even  spirit  of  inquiry,  among  the  farmers. 
How  have  these  changes  been  wrought  ?  By  educa- 
tion, surely,  and  that  moral  and  religious  culture 
for  which  secular  education  is  a  fit  preparation. 
The  contributions  of  learning  to  labor,  in  a  pecuniary 
aspect  alone,  have  far  exceeded  the  contributions  of 
labor  to  learning. 

It  is  impossible  to  enumerate  the  evidences  in 
support  of  this  statement,  but  single  facts  will  give 
us  some  conception  of  their  aggregated  value  and 
force. 

It  was  stated  by  Mr.  Flint,  Secretary  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Board  of  Agriculture,  in  his  Annual  Re- 
port for  1855,  "  That  the  saving  to  the  country, 
from  the  improvements  in  ploughs  alone,  within  the 
last  twenty-five  years,  has  been  estimated  at  no  less 
Hum  ten  millions  of  dollars  a  year  in  the  work  of 
t'  tins,  and  one  million  in  the  price  of  ploughs,  while 
the  aggregate  of  the  crops  is  supposed  to  have  been 
increased  by  many  millions  of  bushels."  From  this 
fact,  as  the  representative  of  a  great  class  of  facts, 
wo  may  safely  draw  two  conclusions.  First,  these 
improvements  are  the  products  of  learning,  the  con- 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        39 

tribution  which  learning  makes  to  labor,  far  exceed- 
ing in  amount  any  tax  which  the  cause  of  learning, 
in  schools  or  out,  imposes  upon"  labor.  Secondly, 
we  see  that  a  given  amount  of  adult  labor  upon  a 
farm,  with  the  help  of  the  improved  implements  of 
industry,  will  accomplish  more  in  1856,  than  the 
same  amount  of  adult  labor,  with  its  attendant 
juvenile  force,  could  have  accomplished  in  1826.  If 
we  were  fully  to  illustrate  and  sustain  the  latter  infer- 
ence, we  should  be  required  to  review  the  improve- 
ments made  in  other  implements  of  farming,  as  well  as 
in  ploughs.  Their  positive  pecuniary  value,  when  con- 
sidered in  the  aggregate,  is  too  vast  for  general  belief; 
and  in  England  alone  it  must  exceed  the  anticipate'd 
cost  of  a  system  of  public  instruction,  say  six  mil- 
lions of  pounds,  or  thirty  millions  of  dollars,  per  year. 
But  learning,  as  we  have  defined  it,  has  contributed 
less  to  farming  than  to  other  departments  of  labor. 

The  very  existence  of  manufactures  presupposes 
the  existence  of  learning.  There  is  no  branch  of 
manufactures  without  its  appropriate  machine ;  and 
every  machine  is  the  product  of  mind,  enlarged  and 
disciplined  by  some  sort  of  culture.  The  steam 
engine,  the  spinning-jenny,  the  loom,  the  cotton-gin, 
are  notable  instances  of  the  advantages  derived  by 
manufacturing  industry  from  the  prevalence  of  learn- 
ing. It  was  stated  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  about 


40         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

thirty  3rears  ago,  that  Whitney's  cotton-gin  had  saved 
five  hundred  millions  of  dollars  to  the  country  ;  and 
the  saving,  upon  the  same  basis,  cannot  now  be  less 
than  one  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  —  a  sum 
too  great  for  the  human  imagination  to  conceive. 
When  we  contemplate  these  achievements  of  mind, 
by  which  manual  labor  has  been  diminished,  and 
every  physical  force  both  magnified  and  economized, 
how  unstatcsmanlike  is  the  view  which  regards  a 
human  being  as  a  bundle  of  muscles  and  bones 
merely,  with  no  destiny  but  ignorance,  servitude, 
and  poverty !  . 

Ancient  commerce,  if  we  omit  to  notice  the  con- 
jecture that  the  mariner's  compass  was  in  possession 
of  the  old  Phoenician  and  Indian  navigators,  repro- 
duced, rather  than  invented,  in  modern  times,  did 
not  rest  upon  any  enlarged  scientific  knowledge ; 
but,  in  this  era,  many  of  the  sciences  contribute  to 
the  extension  and  prosperity  of  trade.  After  what 
has  been  accomplished  by  science,  and  especially 
by  physical  geography,  for  commerce  and  naviga- 
ti'»u,  \\<  have  reason  to  expect  a  system,  based  upon 
scientific  knowledge  and  principles,  which  shall 
render  the  highway  of  nations  secure  against  tin- 
disasters  that  have  often  befallen  those  who  go 
down  to  the  sea  in  ships.  Science  gave  to  the 
\\*  iM  the  steamship,  which  promised  for  a  time  to 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        41 

engross  the  entire  trade  upon  the  ocean  ;  but  science 
again  appears,  constructs  vessels  upon  better  scien- 
tific principles,  traces  out  the  path  of  currents  in 
the  water  and  the  air,  and  thus  restores  the  rival 
powers  of  wind  and  steam  to  an  equality  of  position 
in  the  eye  of  the  merchant.  Will  any  one  say  that 
all  this  inures  to  capital,  and  leaves  the  laborer  com- 
paratively unrewarded  ?  We  are  accustomed  to  use 
the  word  prosperity  as  synonymous  with  accumula- 
tion ;  and  yet,  in  a  true  view,  a  man  may  be  pros- 
perous and  accumulate  nothing.  Suppose  we  con- 
trast two  periods  in  the  life  of  a  nation  with  each 
other.  Since  the  commencement  of  this  century, 
the  wages  of  a  common  farm  laborer  in  America  have 
increased  seventy-five  or  one  hundred  per  cent., 
while  the  articles  necessary  and  convenient  for  his 
use  have,  upon  the  whole,  diminished  in  price. 
Admit  that  there  was  nothing  for  accumulation  in 
the  first  period,  and  that  there  is  nothing  for  accumu- 
lation now,  —  is  not  his  condition  nevertheless  im- 
proved ?  And,  if  so,  has  he  not  participated  in  the 
general  prosperity  ? 

Indeed,  we  may  all  accept  the  truth,  that  there  is 
no  exclusiveness  in  the  benefits  which  learning  con- 
fers ;  and  this  leads  me  to  say,  next,  that  there  ought 
to  be  no  exclusiveness  in  the  enjoyment  of  educa- 
tional privileges. 
4* 


42         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.      • 

In  America  we  agree  to  this  ;  and  yet,  confessedly, 
as  a  practical  result  we  have  not  generally  attained 
the  end  proposed.  There  are  two  practical  difficul- 
ties in  the  way.  First,  our  aim  in  a  system  of  pub- 
lic instruction  is  not  high  enough  ;  and,  secondly, 
we  do  not  sufficiently  realize  the  importance  of  edu- 
cating each  individual.  Our  aim  is  not  high  enough  ; 
and  the  result,  like  every  other  result,  is  measured 
and  limited  by  the  purpose  we  have  in  view.  Our 
public  schools  ought  to  be  so  good  that  private 
schools  for  instruction  in  the  ordinary  branches 
would  disappear.  Mr.  Everett  said,  in  reply  to  in- 
quiries made  by  Mr.  Twistleton,  "  I  send  my  boy  to 
the  public  school,  because  I  know  of  none  better." 
It  should  be  the  aim  of  the  public  to  make  their 
schools  so  good  that  no  citizen,  in  the  education  of 
his  children,  will  pass  them  by. 

It  is  as  great  a  privilege  for  the  wealthy  as  for 
the  poor  to  have  an  opportunity  to  send  their  chil- 
dren to  good  public  schools.  It  is  a  maxim  in  educa- 
tion that  the  teacher  must  first  comprehend  the  pupil 
mentally  and  morally  ;  and  might  not  many  of  the 
errors  of  individual  and  public  life  be  avoided,  if  the 
citizen,  from  the  first,  were  to  have  an  accurate  idea 
of  the  world  in  which  he  is  to  live  ?  The  demand 
of  labor  upon  education,  as  they  arc  connected  with 
every  material  interest  of  society,  is,  that  no  one 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        43 

shall  be  neglected.  The  inind  of  a  nation  is  its  cap- 
ital. We  are  accustomed  to  speak  of  money  as 
capital ;  and  sometimes  we  enlarge  the  definition, 
and  include  machinery,  tools,  flocks,  herds,  and  lands. 
But  for  this  moment  let  us  do  what  we  have  a  right 
to  do,  —  go  behind  the  definitions  of  lexicographers 
and  political  economists,  and  say,  "  capital  is  the 
producing  force  of  society,  arid  that  force  is  mind." 
Without  this  force,  money  is  nothing  ;  machinery  is 
nothing ;  flocks,  herds,  lands,  are  nothing.  But  all 
these  are  made  valuable  and  efficient  by  the  power 
of  mind.  What  we  call  civilization,  —  passing  from 
an  inferior  to  a  superior  condition  of  existence,  — 
is  a  mental  and  moral  process.  If  mind  is  the  cap- 
ital,—  the  producing  force  of  society, — what  shall 
we  say  of  the  person  or  community  that  neglects  its 
improvement  ?  Certainly,  all  that  we  should  say  of 
the  miser,  and  all  that  was  said  of  the  timid  servant 
who  buried  his  talent  in  the  earth.  If  one  mind  is 
neglected,  then  we  fail  as  a  generation,  a  state-,  a 
nation,  as  members  of  the  human  family,  to  answer 
the  highest  purposes  of  existence.  Some  possible 
good  is  unaccomplished,  some  desirable  labor  is  un- 
performed, some  means  of  progress  is  neglected, 
some  evil  seed,  it  may  be,  is  sown,  for  which  this 
generation  must  answer  to  all  the  successions  of 
men.  But  let  us  not  yield  to  the  prejudice,  though 


44         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

sanctioned  by  custom,  that  learning  unfits  men  for 
the  labors  of  life.  The  schools  may  sometimes 
do  this,  but  learning  never.  We  cannot,  however, 
conceal  from  our  view  the  fact  that  this  prejudice  is 
a  great  obstacle  to  progress,  even  in  New  England ; 
an  obstacle  which  may  not  be  overcome  without 
delay  and  conflict,  in  many  states  of  this  Union  ; 
and  especially  in  Great  Britain  is  it  an  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  those  who  demand  a  system  of  universal 
education. 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr.  Drummond  op- 
poses a  national  system  of  education  in  this  wise  : 
"And,  pray,  what  do  you  propose  to  rear  your 
youth  for  ?  Are  you  going  to  train  them  for  states- 
men ?  No.  (A  laugh.)  The  honorable  gentleman 
laughs  at  the  notion,  and  so  would  I.  But  you  are 
going  to  fit  them  to  be  —  what  ?  Why,  cotton- 
spinners  and  pin-makers,  or,  if  you  like,  blacksmiths, 
mere  day  laborers.  These  are  the  men  whom  you 
are  to  teach  foreign  languages,  mathematics,  and 
the  notation  of  music.  (Hear,  hear.)  Was  there 
ever  anything  more  absurd  ?  It  really  seems  as  if 
God  had  withdrawn  common  sense  from  this  house." 
Now,  what  does  this  language  of  Mr.  Drummond 
mean  ?  Does  he  not  intend  to  say  that  it  is  unwise 
to  educate  that  class  of  society  from  which  cotton- 
spinners,  pin-makers,  blacksmiths,  mere  day  labor- 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.         45 

crs,  are  taken  ?  Is  it  not  his  opinion  that  the  busi- 
ness of  pin-making  is  to  be  perpetuated  in  some  fam- 
ilies and  classes,  and  the  business  of  statesmanship 
is  to  be  perpetuated  in  others  ?  And,  if  so,  does  he 
not  believe  that  the  best  condition  of  society  is  that 
which  presents  divisions  based  upon  the  factitious 
distinctions  of  birth  and  fortune  ?  Most  certainly 
these  questions  indicate  his  opinions,  as  they  indi- 
cate the  opinions  of  those  who  cheered  him,  and  as 
they  also  indicate  the  opinions  of  a  few  in  this  coun- 
try, who,  through  ignorance*,  false  education,  preju- 
dice, or  sympathy  with  castes  and  races,  fear  to 
educate  the  laborer,  lest  he  may  forsake  his  calling. 
With  us  these  fears  are  infrequent,  but  they  ought 
not  to  exist  at  all.  The  question  in  a  public  sense  is 
not,  "From  what  family  or  class  shall  the  pin-maker 
or  the  statesman  be  taken  ?  "  There  is  no  ques- 
tion at  all  to  be  answered.  Educate  the  whole  peo- 
ple. Education  will  develop  every  variety  of  talent, 
taste,  and  power.  These  qualities,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  necessities  of  life  and  the  public  judg- 
ment, will  direct  each  man  to  his  proper  place.  If 
the  son  of  a  cotton-spinner  become  a  statesman,  it  is 
because  statesmanship  needs  him,  and  he  has  some 
power  answering  to  its  wants.  And  if  Mr.  Drum- 
mond's  son  become  a  cotton-spinner,  it  is  because 
that  is  his  right  place,  and  the  world  will  be  the 


46         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

better  and  the  richer  that  Mr.  Drummond's  son  is  a 
cotton-spinner,  and  that  he  is  a  learned  man  too ; 
but,  if  Mr.  Drummond's  son  occupy  the  place  of  a 
statesman  because  he  is  Mr.  Drummond's  son, 
though  he  be  no  statesman  at  all  himself,  then  the 
world  is  all  the  worse  for  the  mistake,  and  poor 
compensation  is  it  that  Mr.  Drummond's  son  is  a 
learned  man  in  something  that  he  is  never  called  to 
put  in  practice. 

When  it  is  said  that  the  statesmen,  or  those  en- 
gaged in  the  business- of  government,  shall  come 
from  one-tenth  of  the  population,  is  not  the  state, 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  chances,  deprived  of 
nine-tenths  of  its  governing  force  ?  And  may  not 
the  same  suggestion  be  made  of  every  other  branch 
of  business  ? 

But  I  pass  now  to  the  last  leading  thought,  and 
soon  to  the  conclusion  of  my  address.  The  great 
contribution  of  learning  to  the  laborer  is  its  power, 
under  the  lead  of  Christianity,  to  break  down  the 
unnatural  distinctions  of  society,  and  to  render  labor 
of  every  sort,  among  all  classes,  acceptable  and  hon- 
orable. Ignorance  is  the  degradation  of  labor,  and 
when  laborers,  as  a  class,  are  ignorant,  their  voca- 
tion is  necessarily  shunned  by  some ;  and,  being 
shunned  by  some,  it  is  likely  to  be  despised  by  oth- 
ers. Wherever  the  laboring  population  is  in  a  con- 


Nature  and  Value  of  Learning.        47 

dition  of  positive,  or,  by  a  broad  distinction,  of  com- 
parative ignorance,  society  will  always  divide  itself 
into  two,  and  oftentimes  into  three  classes.  We 
shall  find  the  dominant  class,  the  servient  class,  and 
then,  generally,  the  despised  class  ;  the  dominant 
class,  comparatively  intelligent,  possessing  the  prop- 
erty, administering  the  government,  giving  to  social 
life  its  laws,  and  enjoying  the  fruits  of  labor  which 
they  do  not  perform ;  the  servient  class,  unwittingly 
in  a  state  of  slavery,  whether  nominally  bond  or  free, 
having  little  besides  physical  force  to  promote  their 
own  comfort  or  to  contribute  to  the  general  prosper- 
ity, and  furnishing  security  in  their  degradation  for 
a  final  submission  to  whatever  may  be  required  of 
them ;  and  last,  a  despised  class,  too  poor  to  live 
without  labor,  and  too  proud  to  live  by  labor,  assum- 
ing a  position  not  accorded  to  them,  and  finally 
yielding  to  a  social  and  political  ostracism  even 
more  degrading,  to  a  sensitive  mind,  than  the  ser- 
vient condition  they  with'  so  much  effort  seek  to 
shun. 

All  this  is  the  fruit  of  ignorance  ;  all  this  may  be 
removed  by  general  learning.  If  all  men  are  learned, 
the  work  of  the  world  will  be  performed  by  learned 
men  ;  and  why,  under  such  circumstances,  should 
not  every  vocation  that  is  honest  be  equally  honora- 
ble ?  But  if  this,  in  a  broad  view,  seem  Utopian, 


48         Nature  and  Value  of  Learning. 

can  we  not  agree  that  learning  is  the  only  means  by 
which  a  poor  man  can  escape  from  his  poverty  ? 
And,  if  it  furnish  certain  means  of  escape  for  one 
man,  will  it  not  furnish  equally  certain  means  of 
escape  for  many  ?  And  if  so,  is  not  learning  a 
general  remedy  for  the  inequalities  among  men  ? 


EDUCATION  AND  CRIME. 

[Extract  from  the  Twenty-First  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Board  of  Education.] 

THE  public  schools,  in  their  relations  to  the  morals 
of  the  pupils  and  to  the  morality  of  the  community, 
are  attracting  a  large  share  of  attention.  In  some 
sections  of  the  country  the  system  is  boldly  de- 
nounced on  account  of  its  immoral  tendencies.  In 
states  where  free  schools  exist  there  are  persons 
who  doubt  their  utility;  and  occasionally  partisan 
or  religious  leaders  appear  who  deny  the  existence 
of  any  public  duty  in  regard  to  education,  or  who 
assert  and  maintain  the  doctrine  that  free  schools 
are  a  common  danger.  As  the  people  of  this  com- 
monwealth are  not  followers  of  these  prophets  of 
evil,  nor  believers  in  their  predictions,  there  is  but 
slight  reason  for  discussion  among  us.  It  is  not 
probable  that  a  large  number  of  the  citizens  of 
Massachusetts  entertain  doubts  of  the  power  and 
value  of  our  institutions  of  learning,  of  every  grade, 
to  resist  evil  and  promote  virtue,  through  the  influ- 
ence they  exert.  But,  as  there  is  nothing  in  our 
free-school  system  that  shrinks  from  light,  or  inves- 
5  (49) 


50  Education  and  Crime. 

tigation  even,  I  have  selected  from  the  annual 
reports  everything  which  they  contain  touching  the 
morality  of  the  institution.  In  so  doing,  I  have  had 
two  objects  in  view.  First,  to  direct  attention  to 
the  errors  and  wrongs  that  exist ;  and,  secondly,  to 
state  the  opinion,  and  enforce  it  as  I  may  be  able, 
that  the  admitted  evils  found  in  the  schools  are  the 
evils  of  domestic,  social,  municipal,  and  general 
life,  which  are  sometimes  chastened,  mitigated,  or 
removed,  but  never  produced,  nor  even  cherished,  by 
our  system  of  public  instruction.  In  the  extracts 
from  the  school  committees'  reports  there  are  pas- 
sages which  imply  some  doubt  of  the  moral  value  of 
the  system  ;  but  it  is  our  duty  to  bear  in  mind  that 
these  reports  were  prepared  and  presented  for  the 
praiseworthy  purpose  of  arousing  an  interest  in  the 
removal  of  the  evils  that  are  pointed  out.  The 
writers  are  contemplating  the  importance  of  making 
the  schools  a  better  means  of  moral  and  intellectual 
culture ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  in 
any  case  a  comparison  is  instituted,  even  mentally, 
I.,  tween  the  state  of  society  as  it  appears  at  present 
and  the  condition  that  would  follow  the  abandon- 
ment of  our  system  of  public  instruction.  There  are 
general  complaints  that  the  manners  of  children  and 
youth  have  changed  within  thirty  or  fifty  years  ; 
that  age  and  station  do  not  command  the  respect 


Education  and  Crime.  51 

which  was  formerly  manifested,  and  that  some 
license  in  morals  has  followed  this  license  in  man- 
ners. 

The  change  in  manners  cannot  be  denied  ;  but  the 
alleged  change  in  morals  is  not  sustained  by  a  great 
amount  of  positive  evidence.  The  customs  of 
former  generations  were  such  that  children  often 
manifested  in  their  exterior  deportment  a  deference 
which  they  did  not  feel,  while  at  present  there  may 
be  more  real  respect  for  station,  and  deference  for 
age  and  virtue,  than  are  exhibited  in  juvenile  life.  In 
this  explanation,  if  it  be  true,  there  is  matter  for 
serious  thought ;  but  I  should  not  deem  it  wise  to 
encourage  a  mere  outward  show  of  the  social  virtues, 
which  have  no  springs  of  life  in  the  affections. 

And,  notwithstanding  the  tone  of  the  reports  to 
which  I  have  called  attention,  and  notwithstanding 
my  firm  conviction  that  many  moral  defects  are 
found  in  the  schools,  I  am  yet  confident  that  their 
moral  progress  is  appreciable  and  considerable. 

In  the  first  place,  teachers,  as  a  class,  have  a 
higher  idea  of  their  professional  duties,  in  respect  to 
moral  and  intellectual  culture.  Many  of  them  are 
permanently  established  in  their  schools.  The^y  are 
persons  of  character  in  society,  with  positions  to 
maintain,  and  they  are  controlled  by  a  strong  sense 
of  professional  responsibility  to  parents  and  to  the 


52  •  Education  and  Crime. 

public.  It  has  been,  to  some  extent,  the  purpose  and 
result  of  Teachers'  Associations,  Teachers'  Institutes, 
and  Normal  Schools,  to  create  in  the  body  of  teach- 
ers a  better  opinion  concerning  their  moral  obliga- 
tions in  the  work  of  education.  It  must  also  be  ad- 
mitted that  the  changes  in  school  government  have 
been  favorable  to  learning  and  virtue.  For,  while  it 
is  not  assumed  that  all  schools  are,  or  can  be,  con- 
trolled by  moral  means  only,  it  is  incontrovertible 
that  a  government  of  mild  measures  is  superior 
to  one  of  force.  This  superiority  is  as  apparent 
in  morals  as  in  scholarly  acquisitions.  It  is  rare 
that  a  teacher  now  boasts  of  his  success  over  his 
pupils  in  physical  contests ;  but  such  claims  were 
common  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  The  change 
that  has  been  wrought  is  chiefly  moral,  and  in  its 
influence  we  find  demonstrative  evidence  of  the 
moral  superiority  of  the  schools  of  the  present  over 
those  of  any  previous  period  of  this  century.  Before 
we  can  comprehend  the  moral  work  which  the 
schools  have  done  and  are  doing,  we  must  perceive 
and  appreciate  with  some  degree  of  truthfulness  the 
changes  that  have  occurred  in  general  life  within  a 
brief  period  of  time.  The  activity  of  business,  by 
which  fathers  have  been  diverted  from  the  custody 
and  training  of  their  children  ;  the  claims  of  fashion 
and  society,  which  have  led  to  some  neglect  of  family 


Education  and  Crime.  53 

government  on  the  part  of  mothers ;  the  aggrega- 
tion of  large  populations  in  cities  and  towns,  always 
unfavorable  to  the  physical  and  moral  welfare  of 
children ;  the  comparative  neglect  of  agriculture, 
and  the  consequent  loss  of  moral  strength  in  the 
people,  are  all  facts  to  be  considered  when  we  esti- 
mate the  power  of  the  public  school  to  resist  evil 
and  to  promote  good.  If,  in  addition  to  these  un- 
favorable facts  and  tendencies,  our  educational 
system  is  prejudicial  to  good  morals,  we  m&y  well 
inquire  for  the  human  agency  powerful  enough  to 
resist  the  downward  course  of  New  England  and 
American  civilization.  To  be  sure,  Christianity 
remains ;  but  it  must,  to  some  extent,  use  human 
institutions  as  means  of  good  ;  and  the  assertion 
that  the  schools  are  immoral  is  equivalent  to  a 
declaration  that  our  divine  religion  is  practically  ex- 
cluded from  them.  This  declaration  is  not  in  any 
just  sense  true.  The  duty  of  daily  devotional  exer- 
cises is  always  inculcated  upon  teachers,  and  the 
leading  truths  and  virtues  of  Christianity  are  made, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  daily  guides  of  teachers  and 
pupils.  The  tenets  of  particular  sects  are  not  taught ; 
but  the  great  truths  of  Christianity,  which  are 
received  by  Christians  generally,  are  accepted  and 
taught  by  a  large  majority  of  committees  and  teach- 
ers. It  is  not  claimed  that  the  public  schools  are 
5* 


54  Education  and  Crime. 

religious  institutions  ;  but  they  recognize  and  incul- 
cate those  fundamental  truths  which  are  the  basis 
of  individual  character,  and  the  best  support  of 
social,  religious,  and  political  life.  The  statement 
that  the  public  schools  are  demoralizing  must  be 
true,  if  true  at  all,  for  one  of  three  reasons.  Either 
because  all  education  is  demoralizing  ;  or,  secondly, 
because  the  particular  education  given  in  the  public 
schools  is  so  ;  or,  thirdly,  because  the  public-school 
system  is  corrupting,  and  consequently  taints  all  the 
streams  of  knowledge  that  flow  through  or  emanate 
from  it.  For,  if  the  public  system  is  unobjectionable 
as  a  system,  and  education  is  not  in  itself  demoral- 
izing, then,  of  course,  no  ground  remains  for  the 
charge  that  I  am  now  considering. 

I.  Is  att  education  demoralizing  f  An  affirmative 
answer  to  this  question  implies  so  much  that  no 
rational  man  can  accept  it.  It  is  equivalent  to  the 
assertion  that  barbarism  is  a  better  condition  than 
civilization,  and  that  the  progress  of  modern  •  times 
has  proceeded  upon  a  misconception  of  the  true  ideal 
perfection  of  the  human  race.  As  no  ono  can  be 
found  who  will  admit  that  his  happiness  has  been 
marred,  his  powers  limited,  or  his  life  degraded,  by 
education,  so  there  is  no  process  of  logic  that  can 
commeiid  to  the  human  understanding  the  doctrine 


Education  and  Crime.  55 

that  bodies  of  men  are  either  less  happy  or  virtuous 
for  the  culture  of  the  intellect.  I  am  not  aware  of 
any  human  experience  that  conflicts  with  this  view  ; 
for  individual  cases  of  criminals  who  have  been  well 
educated  prove  nothing  in  themselves,  but  are  to  be 
considered  as  facts  in  great  classes  of  facts  which 
indicate  the  principles  and  conduct  of  bodies  of  men 
who  are  subject  to  similar  influences.  In  fact,  the 
statistics  to  which  I  have  had  access  tend  to  show 
that  crime  diminishes  as  intelligence  increases.  On 
this  point  the  experience  of  Great  Britain  is  probably 
more  definite,  and,  of  course,  more  valuable,  than 
our  own.  The  Aberdeen  Feeding  Schools  were 
established  in  1841,  and  during  the  ten  years  suc- 
ceeding the  commitments  to  the  jails  of  children 
under  twelve  years  of  age  were  as  follows  :  * 

In  1842, 30  In  1847, 27 


1843,  .  .  . 

...  63 

1848,  .  .  . 

...  19 

1844,  .  .  . 

...  41 

1849  .  .  . 

.  .  16 

1845,  .  .  . 

.  .  49 

1850 

22 

1846  . 

.28 

1851,  . 

.  8 

211  92 

In  the  work  of  Mr.  Hill  it  is  also  stated  that  "  the 
number  of  children   under  twelve    committed    for 

*  The  Repression  of  Crime.     By  M.  D.  Hill. 


56  Education  and  Crime. 

crime  to  the  Aberdeen  prisons,  during  the  last  six 
years,  was  as  follows  : 


Total. 

1849-60,  ;Y£'lV.  .11 6 16 

1850-51 14 8 22 

1851-52, 6 2 8 

1852-53 23 1 24 

1853-64, 24 1 25 

1854-55 47  ......  2 49 

"  It  will  be  observed  that  in  the  last  three  years 
there  has  been  a  great  increase  of  boy  crime,  con- 
temporaneously with  an  almost  total  absence  of  girl 
crime,  though  formerly  the  amount  of  the  latter  was 
considerable.  Now,  since  this  extraordinary  differ- 
ence coincides  in  point  of  time  with  the  fact  of  full 
girls'  schools  and  half  empty  boys'-echools,  the  infer- 
ence can  hardly  be  avoided  that  the  two  facts  bear 
the  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  and  that,  so  far  from 
.the  late  increase  of  youthful  crime  in  Aberdeen  any- 
wise impairing  the  soundness  of  the  principle  on 
which  the  schools  are  based,  it  is  its  strongest  con- 
firmation. In  moral  as  in  physical  science,  when  the 
objections  to  a  theory  are,  upon  further  investigation, 
explained  by  the  theory  itself,  they  become  the  best 
evidence  of  its  truth.  Indeed,  it  is  proved,  by  the 
experience,  not  only  of  Aberdeen,  but,  as  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  ascertain,  of  every  town  in  Scot- 


Education  and  Crime. 


57 


land  in  which  industrial  schools  have  been  estab- 
lished, that  the  number  of  children  in  the  schools 
and  the  number  in  the  jail  are  like  the  two  ends  of  a 
scale-beam  ;  as  the  one  rises  the  other  falls,  and 
vice  versa. 

"  The  following  list  of  imprisonments  of  children 
attending  the  schools  of  the  Bristol  Kagged  School 
Union  shows  considerable  progress  in  the  right 
direction  : 


1847. 

1848. 

1849. 

1850. 

1851. 

1852. 

1853. 

1854. 

1855. 

Imprisoned, 

12 

19 

26 

9 

1 

1 

- 

1 

- 

Imprisonments  in  j        avera  ing  16.5  per  year  on  number  of  41T  chudren. 
the  first  four  years,  >      ' 

**  *******  fiVG  ]   3,  averaging    0.6  per  year  on  number  of  728  children. 

Difference, 15.9 

16.5  :  15.9  :  :  100  : 


"  Thus,"  says  Mr.  Thornton,  "  it  appears  that  the 
diminution  of  the  average  annual  number  of  children 
attending  our  schools  imprisoned  in  the  latter  period 
of  five  years,  as  compared  with  the  annual  average  of 
the  previous  four  years,  is  ninety-six  per  cent.  —  a 
striking  fact,  which  is,  I  think,  a  manifest  proof  of  the 
benefit  conferred  on  them  by  the  religious  and  sec- 
ular instruction  they  receive  in  our  schools,  or,  at 


58  Education  and  Crime. 

the  very  least,  of  the  advantages  of  rescuing  them 
from  the  temptations  of  idleness,  and  from  evil  com- 
panionship and  example." 

I  also  copy,  from  the  work  already  referred  to,  an 
extract  from  a  paper  on  the  Reformatory  Institutions 
in  and  near  Bristol,  by  Mary  Carpenter:  "In  num- 
berless instances  children  may  be  seen  growing  up 
decently,  who  owe  their  only  training  and  instruc- 
tion to  the  school.  Young  persons  are  noticed  in 
regular  work,  who,  before  they  attended  the  Ragged 
Schools,  were  vagrants,  or  even  thieves.  Not  un- 
frequently  a  visit  is  paid  at  the  school  by  a  respect- 
able young  man,  who  proves  to  have  been  a  wild 
and  troublesome  scholar  of  former  times." 

Mr.  Hill,  Recorder  of  Birmingham,  in  a  charge  to 
the  grand  jury,  made  in  1839,  speaking  of  the  means 
of  repressing  crime,  says  :  "  It  is  to  education,  in 
the  large  and  true  meaning  of  the  word,  that  we 
must  all  look  as  the  means  of  striking  at  the  root  of 
the  evil.  Indeed,  of  the  close  connection  between 
ignorance  and  crime  the  calendar  which  I  hold  in 
my  hand  furnishes  a  striking  example.  Each  pris- 
oner has  been  examined  as  to  the  state  of  his  educa- 
tion, and  the  result  is  set  down  opposite  his  name. 
It  appears,  then,  that  of  forty-three  prisoners  only 
one  can  read  and  write  well.  The  majority  can 
neither  read  nor  write  at  all ;  and  the  remainder,  with 


Education  and  Crime.  ,  59 

the  solitary  exception  which  I  have  noted  down,  are 
said  to  read  and  write  imperfectly  ;  which  necessa- 
rily implies  that  they  have  not  the  power  of  using 
those  great  elements  of  knowledge  for  any  practical 
object.  Of  forty-three  prisoners,  forty-two,  then,  are 
destitute  of  instruction." 

These  authorities  are  not  cited  because  they  refer 
to  schools  that  answer  in  character  to  the  public 
schools  of  Massachusetts,  for  the  latter  are  far  supe- 
rior in  the  quality  of  their  pupils,  and  in  the  oppor- 
tunities given  for  intellectual  and  moral  education  ; 
but  these  cases  and  opinions  are  presented  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  what  has  been  done  for  the  im- 
provement of  children  and  the  repression  of  crime 
under  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances  that  exist 
in  a  civilized  community..  If  such  benign  results 
have  followed  the  establishment  of  schools  of  an 
inferior  character,  is  it  unreasonable  to  claim  that 
education  and  the  processes  of  education,  however 
imperfect  they  may  be,  are  calculated  to  increase  the 
sum  of  human  progress,  virtue,  and  happiness  ? 

II.  Is  the  particular  education  given  in  the  public 
schools  unfavorable  to  the  morals  of  the  pupils,  and, 
consequently,  to  the  morality  of  the  community?  I 
have  already  presented  a  view  of  the  moral  and 
religious  education  given  in  the  schools,  and  it  only 


60  .  Education  and  Crime. 

remains  to  consider  the  culture  that  is  in  its  leading 
features  intellectual.  It  may  be  said,  speaking  gen- 
erally, that  education  is  a  training  and  development 
of  the  faculties,  so  as  to  make  them  harmonize  in 
power,  and  in  their  relations  to  each  other.  Among 
other  things,  the  ability  to  read  is  acquired  in  the 
public  schools.  In  the  individual,  this  is  a  power 
for  good.  It  opens  to  the  mind  and  heart  the  teach- 
ings of  the  sacred  Scriptures  ;  it  secures  the  compan- 
ionship of  the  great,  the  wise,  and  the  good,  of  every 
age ;  and  it  is  a  possession  that,  in  all  cases,  must 
be  the  foundation  of  those  scientific  acquisitions, 
intellectual,  moral,  and  natural,  which  show  the 
beneficence  and  power  of  the  Creator,  and  indicate 
the  fact  and  the  law  of  human  responsibility.  The 
natural  and  general  effect  of  the  sciences  taught  in 
the  schools  is  an  illustration  of  the  last  statement. 
Moreover,  the  mere  presence  of  a  child,  though  he 
took  no  part  in  the  studies  of  the  school,  is  to  him  a 
moral  lesson.  He  feels  the  force  of  government,  he 
acquires  the  habit  of  obedience,  and,  in  time,  he 
comprehends  the  reason  of  the  rules  that  are  estab- 
lished. This  discipline  is  essentially  moral,  and  fur- 
nishes some  basis,  though  partial  and  unsatisfactory, 
for  the  proper  discharge  of  the  duties  of  life.  But 
it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  power  of  the  school 
is  but  in  its  beginning  when  the  presence  of  a  pupil 


Education  and  Crime.  61 

is  recognized.  The  constancy  and  punctuality  of 
attendance  required  by  all  judicious  parents  and 
faithful  teachers  are  important  moral  lessons,  whose 
influence  can  never  be  destroyed.  The  fixedness  of 
purpose  that  is  required,  and  is  essential  in  school, 
remains  as  though  it  were  a  part  of  the  nature  of 
the  child  and  the  man.  School-life  strengthens 
habits  of  industry  when  they  exist,  and  creates  them 
when  they  do  not.  It  is,  indeed,  the  only  means, 
of  universal  application,  that  is  competent  to  train 
children  in  habits  of  industry.  Private  schools  can 
never  furnish  this  training  ;  for  large  numbers  of 
children,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  are  deprived 
of  the  tuition  of  such  schools.  Business  life  cannot 
furnish  this  training  ;  for  the  habits  of  the  child  are 
usually  moulded,  if  not  hardened,  before  he  arrives  at 
an  age  when  he  can  be  constantly  employed  in  any 
industrial  vocation.  The  public  school  is  no  doubt 
justly  chargeable  with  neglects  and  omissions  ;  but 
its  power  for  good,  measured  by  the  character  of 
the  education  now  furnished,  is  certainly  very  great. 
It  inculcates  habits  of  regularity,  punctuality,  con- 
stancy, and  industry,  in  the  pursuits  of  business  ; 
through  literature  and  tht  sciences  in  their  elements, 
and,  under  some  circumstances,  by  an  advanced 
course  of  study,  it  leads  the  pupil  towards  the 
fountain  of  life  and  wisdom  ;  and,  by  the  moral  and 
6 


C2  Education  and  Crime. 

religious  instruction  daily  given,  some  preparation 
is  made  for  the  duties  of  life  and  the  temptations  of 
the  world. 

III.  Is  the  public-school  system,  as  a  system,  in 
itself  necessarily  corrupting  f  As  preliminary  to  the 
answer  to  be  given  to  this  question,  it  is  well  to 
consider  what  the  public-school  system  is. 

1.  Every  inhabitant  is  required  to  contribute  to  its 
support. 

2.  It  contemplates  the  education  of  every  child, 
regardless  of  any  distinction  of  society  or  nature. 

3.  The  system  is  subject  in  many  respects  to  the 
popular  will ;   and  ultimately  its  existence  and  char- 
acter are  dependent  upon  the  public  judgment. 

4.  In  the  Massachusetts  schools,  the  daily  reading 
of  the  Scriptures  is  required. 

The  consideration  of  these  topics  will  conclude 
my  remarks  upon  the  general  subject  of  the  moral 
influence  of  the  American  system  of  public  instruc- 
tion. In  New  England  it  is  very  unusual  to  hear 
the  right  of  the  state  to  provide  for  the  support  of 
schools  by  general  taxation  called  in  question  ;  but 
I  am  satisfied,  from  privat?  conversations,  and  from 
occasional  public  statements,  that  there  are  leading 
minds  in  some  sections  of  the  country  that  are  yet 
unconvinced  of  the  moral  soundness  of  the  basis 


Education  and  Crime.  63 

on  which  a  system  of  public  instruction  necessarity 
rests.  Taxation  is  simply  an  exercise  of  the  right 
of  the  whole  to  take  the  property  of  an  individual ; 
and  this  right  can  be  exercised  justly  in  those  cases 
only  where  the  application  of  the  property  so  taken 
is,  morally  speaking,  to  a  public  use.  The  judgment 
of  the  public  determines  the  legality  of  the  proceed- 
ing ;  but  it  is  possible  that  in  some  cases  a  public 
judgment  might  be  secured  which  could  not  be  sup- 
ported by  a  process  of  moral  reasoning.  On  what 
moral  grounds,  then,  does  the  right  of  taxation  for 
educational  objects  rest  ?  I  answer,  first,  education 
diminishes  crime.  The  evidence  in  support  of  this 
statement  has  already  been  presented.  It  is  a  mani- 
fest individual  duty  to  make  sacrifices  for  this  object ; 
and,  as  every  crime  is  an  injury,  not  only  to  him  who 
is  the  subject  of  it,  but  to  every  member  of  society, 
the  prevention  of  crime  becomes  a  public  as  well  as 
an  individual  duty. 

The  conviction  of  a  criminal  is  a  public  duty  ;  and, 
under  all  governments  of  law,  it  is  undertaken  at  the 
public  charge.  Offences  are  not  individual  merely  ; 
they  are  against  society  also,  inasmuch  as  it  is  the 
right  of  society  that  all  its  members  shall  behave 
themselves  well.  And,  if  it  is  the  right  of  society 
that  its  members  shall  behave  themselves  well,  is  it 
not  the  duty  of  society  to  so  provide  for  their  educa- 


64  Education  and  Crime. 

tion  that  each  individual  part  may  meet  the  demand 
which  the  whole  body  asserts  ?  And,  further,  as  a 
majority  of  persons  cannot  individually  provide  for 
their  own  protection,  it  is  the  duty  of  society,  or 
the  state,  or  the  government,  to  furnish  the  needed 
protection  in  the  most  economical  and  effective  man- 
ner possible.  The  state  has  no  moral  right  to  jeop- 
ard property,  life,  and  reputation,  when,  by  a  differ- 
ent policy,  all  these  might  be  secure  ;  nor  has  the 
state  a  moral  right  to  make  the  security  furnished, 
whether  perfect  or  not,  unnecessarily  expensive.  It 
is  the  dictate  of  reason  and  the  experience  of  gov- 
ernments that  the  most  effectual  method  of  repress- 
ing crime  is  to  diminish  the  number  of  criminals ; 
and,  though  punitive  measures  may  accomplish  some- 
thing, our  chief  reliance  must  be  upon  the  education 
and  training  of  children  and  youth.  The  facts  drawn 
from  the  experience  of  England  and  Scotland,  which 
have  been  quoted,  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  schools 
diminish  the  number  of  criminals,  and  consequently 
lessen  the  amount  of  crime  ;  but  I  think  it  proper 
to  add  some  extracts  from  a  communication  made, 
in  August,  1856,  by  Mr.  Dunne,  chief  constable  of 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Na- 
tional Reformatory  Union.* 

"  I  know,  from  my  own  personal  knowledge  and 

•  The  Reprcwion  of  Crime,  pp.  868,  859. 


Education  and  Crime.  65 

observation,  that,  since  parental  responsibility  has 
been  enforced  in  the  district,  under  the  direction  of 
the  Secretary  of  State,  the  number  of  juvenile  crim- 
inals in  the  custody  of  the  police  has  decreased  one- 
half.  I  know  that  many  of  the  parents,  who  were  in 
the  habit  of  sending  their  children  into  the  streets 
for  the  purposes  of  stealing,  begging,  and  plunder, 
have  quite  discontinued  that  practice,  and  several  of 
the  children  so  used,  and  brought  up  as  thieves  and 
mendicants,  are  now  at  some  of  the  free  schools  of 
the  town ;  others  are  at  work,  and  thereby  obtain 
an  honest  livelihood  ;  and,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain, 
they  seem  to  be  thoroughly  altered,  and  appear 
likely  to  become  good  and  honest  members  of 
society.  I  have,  for  my  own  information,  conversed 
with  some  of  the  boys  so  altered,  and,  during  the 
conversation  I  had  with  them,  they  declared  that 
they  derived  the  greatest  happiness  and  satisfaction 
from  their  change  in  life.  I  don't  at  all  doubt  the 
truth  of  these  statements,  for  their  evident  improve- 
ment and  individual  circumstances  fully  bear  them 
out ;  and  I  believe  them  to  be  really  serious  in  all 
they  say,  and  truly  anxious  to  become  honest  and 
respectable.  I  attribute,  in  a  great  measure,  this 
salutary  change  to  the  effects  arising  in  many 
respects  from  the  establishment  of  reformatory 
schools  ;  but  I  have  more  particularly  found  that 
6* 


66  Education  and  Crime. 

greater  advantages  have  emanated  from  those  insti- 
tutions since  the  parents  of  the  children  confined  in 
them  have  been  made  to  pay  contributions  to  their 
maintenance  ;  for  it  appears  beyond  doubt  that  the 
effect  of  the  latter  has  been  to  induce  the  parents  of 
other  young  criminals  to  withdraw  them  from  the 
streets,  and,  instead  of  using  them  for  the  purposes 
of  crime,  they  seem  to  take  an  interest  in  their  wel- 
fare. And  I  know  that  many  of  them  are  now  really 
anxious  to  get  such  employment  for  their  children  as 
will  enable  them  to  obtain  a  livelihood ;  and  it  is  my 
opinion  that  the  example  thus  set  to  older  and  more 
desperate  criminals,  belonging  in  many  instances  to 
the  same  family  as  the  juvenile  thief,  has  had  the 
effect  of  reforming  them  also  ;  for  many  of  them 
have  left  off  their  course  of  crime,  and  are  now  liv- 
ing by  honest  labor.  The  result  is  that  serious  crime 
has  considerably  decreased  in  this  district,  so  much 
so  that  there  were  only  six  cases  for  trial  at  the 
assizes,  whereas,  at  the  previous  assizes,  the  aver- 
age number  of  cases  was  from  twenty-five  to  thirty, 
which  fact  was  made  the  subject  of  much  comment 
and  congratulation  by  Mr.  Justice  Willes,  the  pre- 
siding judge." 

These  remarks  relate  chiefly  to  the  reformatory 
schools,  but  we  know  that  the  prevention  of  crime 
by  education  is  much  easier  than  its  reformation  by 


Education  and  Crime.  67 

the  same  means.  Indeed,  it  is  the  result  of  the 
experience  of  Massachusetts  that  the  necessity  for 
reform  schools  has  in  a  large  degree  arisen  from 
neglect  of  the  public  schools.  It  is  stated  in  the 
Tenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Chaplain  of  the  State 
Reform  School  that  of,  nineteen  hundred  and  nine 
boys  admitted  since  the  establishment  of  the  institu- 
tion, thirteen  hundred  and  thirty-four  are  known  to 
have  been  truants.  It  is  also  quite  probable  that 
the  number  reported  as  truants  is  really  less  than 
the  facts  warrant.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
suggest,  in  this  connection,  that  when  a  boy  sen- 
tenced to  the  Reform  School  is  known  to  have  been 
guilty  of  truancy,  if  the  parents  were  subjected  to 
some  additional  burdens  on  that  account,  the  cause 
of  education  would  be  promoted,  and  the  number  of 
criminals  in  the  community  would  be  diminished. 
From  the  views  and  facts  presented,  as  well  as  from 
the  daily  observation  and  experience  of  men,  I 
assume  that  ignorance  is  the  ally  of  crime,  and  that 
education  is  favorable  to  virtue.  It  is  also  the  result 
of  experience  and  the  dictate  of  reason  that  general 
taxation  is  the  only  means  by  which  universal  edu- 
cation can  be  secured.  All  other  plans  and  theories 
will  prove  partial  in  their  application.  If,  then,  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  state  to  protect  itself  against  crime, 
and  of  course  to  diminish  the  number  of  criminals ; 


68  Education  and  Crime. 

if  education  is  the  most  efficient  means  for  securing 
these  results  ;  if  this  education  must  be  universal  in 
order  to  be  thoroughly  effective  ;  if  the  state  is  the 
only  agent  or  instrumentality  of  sufficient  power  to 
establish  schools  and  furnish  education  for  all  ;  and 
if  general  taxation  is  the  only  means  which  the  state 
itself  can  command,  is  not  every  inhabitant  justly 
required  and  morally  bound  to  contribute  to  the  sup- 
port of  a  system  of  public  instruction  ? 

It  will  not  necessarily  happen  that  public  schools 
will  furnish  to  every  child  and  youth  the  desired 
amount  of  education.  Professional  schools,  classical 
schools,  and  academies  of  various  grades,  will  be 
continued ;  but  there  is  an  amount  of  intellectual  and 
moral  training  needed  by  every  child  which  can  be 
best  given  in  the  public  school.  This  training  in 
the  public  schools  ought  to  be  carried  much  further 
than  it  usually  is.  In  the  city  of  Newburyport,  as  I 
have  been  informed,  there  are  no  exceptions  to  the 
custom  of  educating  all  the  children  of  the  town  in 
the  public  schools  up  to  the  moment  when  young 
men  enter  college.  In  large  towns  and  cities  there 
is  no  excuse  for  tho  existence  of  private  schools  to 
do  the  work  now  done  in  such  schools  as  those  of 
Newburyport  and  other  places  where  equal  educa- 
tional privileges  exist. 

The  chief  objection   brought  against  the  public 


Education  and  Crime.  69 

school,  touching  its  morality,  is  derived  from  the 
fact  that  children  who  are  subject  to  proper  moral 
influences  at  home  are  brought  in  contact  with  oth- 
ers who  are  already  practised  in  juvenile  vices,  if 
they  have  not  been  guilty  of  petty  crimes.  I  am 
happy  to  believe  that  this  statement  is  not  true  of 
many  New  England  communities.  The  objection 
was  considered  in  the  last  Annual  Report,  —  it  has 
been  often  considered  elsewhere  ;  and  I  do  not  pro- 
pose to  repeat  at  length  the  views  which  are  enter- 
tained by  the  friends  of  public  education. 

I  have,  however,  to  suggest  that  while  this  objec- 
tion applies  with  some  force  to  the  public  school,  it 
applies  also  to  every  other  school,  and  that  the  evil 
is  the  least  dangerous  when  the  pupil  is  intrusted  to 
the  care  of  a  qualified  teacher,  who  is  personally  re- 
sponsible to  the  public  for  his  conduct,  and  when  the 
child  is  also  subject  to  the  restraints,  and  influenced 
by  the  daily  example  and  teachings,  of  the  parents. 

Moreover,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  great 
value  of  education,  in  a  moral  aspect,  is  the  develop- 
ment of  the  power  to  resist  temptation.  This  power 
is  not  the  growth  of  seclusion ;  and  while  neither  the 
teacher  nor  the  parent  ought  wantonly  to  expose  the 
child  to  vicious  influences,  the  school  may  be  even  a 
better  preparation  for  the  world  from  the  fact  that 
temptation  has  there  been  met,  resisted,  and  over- 


70  Education  and  Crime. 

come.  It  is  also  to  be  remembered  that  the  judg- 
ment of  parents  in  a  matter  so  difficult  and  delicate 
as  a  comparison  between  their  own  children  and 
other  children  would  not  always  prove  trustworthy 
nor  just ;  and  that  a  judgment  of  parties  not  inter- 
ested would  prove  eminently  fruitful  of  dissatisfac- 
tion and  bitterness. 

If  all  are  to  be  educated,  it  only  remains,  then, 
that  they  be  educated  together,  subject  to  the  gen- 
eral rule  of  society,  that  when  a  member  is  danger- 
ous to  the  safety  or  peace  of  his  associates,  he  is  to 
be  excluded  or  restrained.  Nor  is  this  necessity  of 
association  destitute  of  moral  advantages.  If  the 
comparatively  good  were  separated  from  the  rela- 
tively vicious,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the- latter 
would  soon  fall  into  a  state  of  barbarity.  It  seems  to 
be  the  law  of  the  school  and  of  the  world  that  the 
most  rapid  progress  is  made  when  the  weight  of 
public  sentiment  is  on  the  side  of  improvement  and 
virtue.  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  remark  that 
such  a  public  sentiment  exists  in  every  town  and 
school  district  of  the  state ;  but  who  would  take  the 
responsibility  in  any  of  these  communities,  great  or 
small,  of  separating  the  virtuous  classes  from  the 
dangerous  classes  ?  Parents,  from  the  force  of  their 
affections,  are  manifestly  incompetent  to  do  this; 
and  those  who  are  not  parents  are  probably  equally 


Education  and  Crime.  71 

incompetent.  But,  if  it  were  honestly  accomplished, 
who  would  be  responsible  for  the  crushing  effects  of 
the  measure  upon  those  who  were  thus  excluded 
from  the  presence  and  companionship  of  the  com- 
paratively virtuous  ?  These,  often  the  victims  of 
vicious  homes,  need  more  than  others  the  influence 
and  example  of  the  good ;  and  it  should  be  among 
the  chief  satisfactions  of  those  who  are  able  to  train 
their  own  children  in  the  ways  of  virtue,  that  thereby 
a  healthful  influence  is  exerted  upon  the  less  fortu- 
nate of  their  race.  There  is  also  in  this  course  a 
wise  selfishness ;  for,  although  children  may  be  sep- 
arated from  each  other,  the  circumstances  of  maturer 
years  will  often  make  the  virtuous  subject  to  the 
influence  of  the  vicious.  The  safety  of  society,  con- 
sidered individually  or  collectively,  is  not  in  the  vir- 
tuous training  of  any  part,  however  large  the  pro- 
portion, but  in  the  virtuous  training  of  all.  I  cannot 
deem  it  wise  policy,  whether  parental  or  public,  that 
takes  the  child  from  the  school  on  account  of  the 
immoral  associations  that  are  ordinarily  found  there, 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  that  drives  the  vicious  or 
unfortunate  from  the  presence  of  those  who  are  com- 
paratively pure.  When  it  is  considered  that  the 
school  is  often  the  only  refuge  of  the  unhappy  sub- 
ject of  orphanage,  or  the  victim  of  evil  family  influ- 
ences, it  seems  an  unnecessary  cruelty  to  withholi 


72  Education  and  Crime. 

the  protection,  encouragement,  and  support,  which 
may  be  so  easily  and  profitably  furnished.  It  is  said 
that  a  sparrow  pursued  by  a  hawk  took  refuge  in 
the  bosom  of  a  member  of  the  sovereign  assembly  of 
Athens,  and  that  the  harsh  Areopagite  threw  the 
trembling  bird  from  him  with  such  violence  that  it 
was  killed  on  the  spot.  The  assembly  was  filled 
with  indignation  at  the  cruelty  of  the  deed ;  the 
author  of  it  was  arraigned  as  an  alien  to  that  senti- 
ment of  mercy  so  necessary  to  the  administration  of 
justice,  and  by  the  unanimous  suffrages  of  his  col- 
leagues was  degraded  from  the  senatorial  dignity 
which  he  had  so  much  dishonored. 

It  does  not  seem  necessary  to  offer  an  argument 
in  support  of  the  position  that  the  public  school  is 
not  unfavorably  affected,  morally,  by  the  fact  that  it 
is  subject  to  the  popular  judgment.  This  judgment 
can  be  rendered  only  at  stated  times,  and  under  the 
forms  and  solemnities  of  law.  The  history  of  public 
schools  would  probably  furnish  but  few  instances  of 
wrong  in  this  respect.  The  people  are  usually  sen- 
sitive in  regard  to  the  moral  character  of  teachers  ; 
they  contribute  liberally  for  the  support  of  the 
schools,  are  anxious  for  their  improvement,  and  there 
is  no  safer  depositary  of  a  trust  that  is  essential  to 
a  nation  in  which  is  the  hope  of  freedom  and  free 
institutions. 


Education  and  Crime.  73 

And,  last,  a  school  cannot  be  truly  said  to  be  des- 
titute of  moral  character  and  influence  in  which  the 
sacred  Scriptures  are  daily  read. 

The  observance  of  this  requirement  is  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  existence  of  the  Supreme  Being,  of  the 
Bible  as  containing  a  record  of  his  will  concerning 
men,  and  of  the  common  duty  of  rational  creatures 
to  live  in  obedience  to  the  obligations  of  morality 
and  religion. 

It  has  been  no  part  of  my  purpose,  in  this  discus- 
sion of  the  public  school  as  an  institution  fitted  to 
promote  morality,  to  deny  the  existence  of  serious 
defects,  or  to  screen  them  from  the  eyes  of  men. 
The  public  school  needs  a  more  thorough  discipline, 
a  purer  morality,  a  clearer  conception  and  a  more 
practical  recognition  of  the  truths  of  Christianity. 
But,  viewed  as  a  human  institution,  it  claims  the 
general  gratitude  for  the  good  it  has  already  accom- 
plished. The  public  school  was  established  in  Mas- 
sachusetts that  "  learning  might  not  be  buried  in  the 
graves  of  our  forefathers,  in  church  and  common- 
wealth ;  "  and,  in  some  measure,  at  least,  the  early 
expectation  thus  quaintly  expressed  has  been  real- 
ized. Learning  has  ever  been  cherished  and  honored 
among  us.  The  means  of  education  have  been  the 
possession  of  all ;  and  the  enjoyment  of  these  means, 
often  inadequate  and  humble,  has  developed  a  taste 
7 


74  Education  and  Crime. 

fur  learning,  which  has  buen  gratified  in  higher  insti- 
tutions ;  and  thus  continually  have  the  resources  of 
the  state  been  magnified,  and  its  influence  in  the 
land  has  been  efficient  in  all  that  concerns  the  welfare 
of  the  human  race  on  the  American  continent. 


INFORMATION  OF  CHILDREN. 

[Address  at  the  Inauguration  of  WILLIAM  E.  STARR,  Superintendent  of  the  State 
Reform  School  at  Westborough.] 

NEITHER  the  invitation  of  the  Trustees  nor  my  own 
convenience  will  permit  a  detailed  examination  of 
the  topics  which  the  occasion  suggests  ;  and  it  is 
my  purpose  to  address  myself  to  those  who  are  as- 
sembled to  participate  in  the  exercises  of  the  day, 
trusting  to  familiar  and  unobserved  visits  for  other 
and  better  opportunities  for  conference  with  the 
inmates  of  the  institution. 

As  the  mariner,  though  cheered  by  genial  winds 
and  canopied  by  cloudless  skies,  tests  and  marks  his 
position  and  course  by  repeated  observations,  so  we 
now  desire  to  note  the  progress  of  this  humanity- 
freighted  vessel  in  its  voyage  over  an  uncertain  sea, 
yet,  as  we  trust,  toward  lands  of  perpetual  security 
and  peace.  All  are  voyagers  on  the  sea  of  life. 
Some,  with  the  knowledge  of  ancient  days  only, 
grope  their  way  by  headlands,  or  trust  themselves 
occasionally  to  the  guidance  of  the  sun  or  the  stars  ; 
while  others,  with  the  chart  and  compass  of  the 

(75) 


76  Reformation  of  Children. 

Christian  era,  move  confidently  on  their  course,  at- 
tracted by  the  Source  and  Centre  of  all  good.  And 
it  is  a  blessing  of  this  state  of  existence,  though  it 
may  sometimes  seem  to  be  a  curse,  that  the  choice 
between  good  and  evil  yet  remains.  The  wisdom  of 
a  right  choice  is  here  manifested  in  the  benevolence 
of  this  foundation. 

The  State  Reform  School  for  Boys  has  now  enjoyed 
eight  full  years  of  life  and  progress  ;  and,  though  we 
cannot  estimate  nor  measure  the  good  it  may  have 
induced,  or  the  evil  it  may  have  prevented,  yet 
enough  of  its  history  and  results  is  known  to  justify 
the  course  of  its  patrons,  both  public  and  private, 
and  to  warrant  the  ultimate  realization  of  their  early 
cherished  hopes.  The  state  is  most  honored  in  the 
honor  awarded  to  its  sons  ;  and  the  name  of  LYMAN, 
now  and  evermore  associated  with  a  work  of  benev- 
olence and  reform,  will  always  command  the  admira- 
tion of  the  citizens  of  the  commonwealth,  and 
stimulate  the  youth  of  the  school  to  acquire  and 
practise  those  virtues  which  their  generous  patron 
cherished  in  his  own  life  and  honored  in  others. 
Governor  Washburn,  in  the  Dedication  Address, 
said,  "  Wo  commend  this  school,  with  its  officers 
and  inmates,  to  a  generous  and  grateful  public,  with 
the  trust  that  the  future  lives  of  the  young,  who 
may  be  sent  hither  for  correction  and  reform,  may 


Reformation  of  Children.  77 

prove  the  crowning  glory  of  an  enterprise  so  auspi- 
ciously begun."  Since  these  words  were  uttered, 
and  this  hope,  the  hope  of  many  hearts,  was  ex- 
pressed, nearly  two  thousand  boys,  charged  with 
various  offences,  —  many  of  them  petty,  and  others 
serious  or  even  criminal, — have  been  admitted  to 
the  school ;  and  the  chaplain,  in  his  report  for  the 
year  1854,  says  that  "  the  institution  will  be  instru- 
mental in  saving  a  majority  of  those  who  come  under 
its  fostering  care."  This  opinion,  based,  no  doubt, 
upon  the  experience  which  the  chaplain  and  other 
officers  of  the  institution  had  had,  is  to  be  taken  as 
possessing  a  substantial  basis  of  truth  ;  and  it  at 
once  suggests  important  reflections. 

Massachusetts  is  relieved  of  the  presence  of  a 
thousand  criminal,  or,  at  best,  viciously  disposed 
persons.  A  thousand  active,  capable,  industrious, 
productive,  full-grown  men  have  been  created  ;  or, 
rather,  a  thousand  consumers  of  the  wealth  of  others, 
enemies  of  the  public  order  and  peace,  have  been 
transformed  into  intelligent  supporters  of  social  life, 
into  generous,  faithful  guardians  of  public  virtue  and 
tranquillity.  Nor  would  the  influences  of  this  de- 
graded population,  if  unreformed,  have  ceased  with 
its  own  existence  ;  every  succeeding  generation 
must  have  gathered  somewhat  of  a  harvest  of  crime 
and  woe.  A  thousand  boys,  hardened  by  neglect, 
7* 


78  Reformation  of  Children. 

educated  in  vice,  and  shunned  by  the  virtuous, 
would,  as  men,  have  been  efficient  missionaries  of 
lawlessness,  wrong,  and  crime.  And  who  shall 
estimate  how  much  their  reform  adds,  in  its  results, 
to  the  wealth,  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious 
character,  of  the  state  ?  The  criminal  class  is  never 
a  producing  class  ;  and  the  labor  of  a  thousand 
men  here  reclaimed,  if  estimated  for  the  period  of 
twenty  years  only,  is  equal  to  the  labor  of  twenty 
thousand  men  for  one  year,  which,  at  a  hundred 
dollars  each,  yields  two  millions  of  dollars.  The 
pecuniary  advantages  of  this  school,  as  of  all  schools, 
we  may  estimate  ;  but  there  are  better  and  higher 
considerations,  in  the  elevated  intellectual,  moral, 
and  religious  life  of  the  state,  that  are  too  pure,  too 
ethereal,  to  be  weighed  in  the  balance  against  the 
grosser  possessions  and  acquisitions  of  society.  We 
thus  get  glimpses  of  the  prophetic  wisdom  which  led 
Mr.  Lyman  to  say,  "  I  do  not  look  on  this  school  as 
an  experiment ;  on  the  contrary,  it  strikes  me  that  it 
is  an  institution  which  will  produce  decidedly  ben- 
eficial  results,  not  only  for  the  present  day,  but  for 
many  years  to  come.  I  do  not,  therefore,  think  that 
it  should,  even  now,  be  treated  in  any  respect  in  the 
light  of  an  experiment,  to  be  abandoned  if  not  suc- 
cessful ;  for,  if  the  school  is  introduced  to  public 
notice  on  no  better  footing  and  with  no  more  prepar- 


Reformation  of  Children.  79 

ation  than  usually  attend  trial-schemes  of  most  kinds, 
the  probability  is  that  it  will  fail,  considering  the 
peculiar  difficulties  of  the  case."  Here  is  a  high 
order  of  faith  in  its  application  to  human  aifairs  ; 
but  Mr.  Lyman  saw,  also,  that  the  work  to  be  per- 
formed must  encounter  obstacles,  and  that  its  prog- 
ress toward  a  perfect  result  would  be  slow. 

These  obstacles  have  been  encountered  ;  and  yet 
the  progress  has  been  more  rapid  than  the  words  of 
our  founder  imply.  But  are  we  not  at  liberty  to  for- 
get the  trials,  crosses,  and  perplexities,  of  this  move- 
ment, as  we  behold  the  fruits,  already  maturing,  of 
the  wisdom  and  Christian  benevolence  of  our  hon- 
ored commonwealth  ? 

We  are  assembled  to  review  the  past,  and  to 
gather  from  it  strength  and  courage  for  the  future  ; 
and  we  may  with  propriety  congratulate  all,  whether 
present  or  absent,  who  have  been  charged  with  the 
administration  of  this  school,  and  have  contributed 
their  share,  however  humble,  to  promote  these  be- 
nign results.  And  we  ought,  also,  to  remember 
those,  whether  living  or  dead,  whose  faith  and  labors 
laid  the  foundation  on  which  the  state  has  built.  Of 
the  dead,  I  mention  Lyman,  Lamb,  Denny,  Wood- 
ward, Shaw,  and  Greenleaf,  —  all  of  whom,  with 
money,  counsel,  or  personal  service,  contributed  to 
the  plan,  progress,  and  completion,  of  the  work. 


80  Reformation  of  Children. 

The  good  that  they  have  done  is  not  interred  with 
their  bones  ;  and  their  example  will  yet  find  many 
imitators,  as  men  more  generally  and  more  perfectly 
realize  the  importance  of  faith  in  childhood  and 
youth,  as  the  element  of  a  true  faith  in  our  race. 
If  this  enterprise,  in  the  judgment  of  its  founder, 
was  not  an  experiment  ten  years  ago,  it  cannot  be 
so  regarded  now  ;  yet  the  public  will  look  with  anx- 
iety, though  with  hope,  upon  every  change  of  the 
officers  of  the  institution.  The  trustees  having 
appointed  a  new  superintendent,  he  now  assumes 
the  great  responsibility.  It  may  not  be  second  to 
any  in  the  state  ;  yet  a  man  of  energy,  who  is  in- 
fluenced by  a  desire  to  do  good,  and  who  will  not 
measure  his  reward  by  present  emoluments  or  tem- 
porary fame,  can  bear  steadily  and  firmly  the  weight 
put  upon  him.  The  superintendent  elect  has  been  a 
teacher  elsewhere,  and  he  is  to  be  a  teacher  here 
also.  His  work  will  not,  in  all  particulars,  corres- 
pond with  the  work  that  he  has  left ;  yet  the  princi- 
ples of  government  and  education  are  in  substance 
the  same.  The  head  of  a  school  always  occupies  a 
position  of  influence  ;  the  characters  of  the  children 
and  youth  confided  to  him  are  in  a  great  degree  sub- 
ject to  his  control.  Here  the  teacher  is  neither  aided 
nor  impeded  by  the  usual  home  influences.  This 
institution  is  at  once  a  home  and  a  school ;  and  its 


Reformation  of  Children.  81 

head  has  the  united  power  and  responsibility  of  the 
parent  and  the  teacher.  Here  are  to  be  combined 
the  social  and  moral  influences  of  home,  the  religious 
influences  of  the  Sunday-school,  with  the  intellectual 
and  moral  training  of  the  public  school.  He  who 
to-day  enters  upon  this  work  should  have  both  faith 
and  courage.  He  is  to  deal  with  the  unfortunate 
rather  than  with  the  exceptional  cases  of  humanity  ; 
for  all  these  are  children  whom  the  Father  of  the 
race,  in  his  providence,  has  confided  to  earthly 
parents  to  be  educated  for  a  temporal  and  an  immor- 
tal existence.  That  these  parents,  through  crime, 
ignorance,  indolence,  carelessness,  or  misfortune, 
have  failed  in  their  work,  is  no  certain  evidence  that 
we  are  to  fail  in  ours.  May  we  not  hope  to  see  in 
this  school  the  kindness,  consideration,  affection, 
and  forethought,  of  the  parent,  without  the  delusion 
which  sometimes  causes  the  father  or  mother  to  treat 
the  vices  of  the  child  as  virtues,  to  be  encouraged  ? 
And  may  we  not  expect  from  the  superintendent,  to 
whom,  practically,  the  discipline  of  the  school  is  con- 
fided, one  characteristic  of  good  government,  not 
always,  it  is  feared,  found  in  punitive  and  reform- 
atory institutions  ?  I  speak  of  the  attributes  of 
equality,  uniformity,  and  certainty,  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  law.  To  be  sure,  a  school,  a  prison,  or  a 
state,  will  suffer  when  its  code  is  lax  ;  and  it  will 


82  Reformation  of  Children. 

also  suffer  when  its  system  is  oppressive  or  sanguin- 
ary ;  but  these  peculiarities  in  themselves  do  not  so 
often,  in  any  community,  produce  dissatisfaction,  dis- 
order, and  violence,  as  an  unequal,  partial,  and  uncer- 
tain administration  of  the  laws.  If  at  times  the 
laws  are  administered  strictly  according  to  the  let- 
ter, and  if  at  other  times  they  are  reluctantly 
enforced  or  altogether  disregarded  ;  if  it  can  never 
be  known  beforehand  whether  a  violation  is  to  be 
followed  by  the  prescribed  penalty — especially  if  this 
uncertainty  becomes  systematic,  and  a  portion  are 
favored,  while  the  remainder  are  required  to  answer 
strictly  for  all  their  delinquencies  ;  and  if,  above  all, 
these  favored  ones  are  recognized  as  sentinels,  or 
spies,  or  informers  in  the  service  of  the  officers,  — 
then  not  only  will  the  spirit  of  insubordination  man- 
ifest itself,  but  that  spirit  may  ripen  into  alienations, 
feuds,  and  personal  enmities,  dangerous  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  institution.  Here  the  scales  of  justice 
should  be  evenly  balanced,  and  the  boy  should  learn, 
from  his  own  daily  experience,  to  measure  equal  and 
exact  justice  unto  others.  I  do  not  speak  of  sys- 
tems of  government :  they  are  essential,  no  doubt ; 
but  they  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  of  the  first  im- 
portance in  institutions  for  punishment  or  reforma- 
tion. Establish  as  wise  a  system  as  you  can  :  but 
never  trust  to  that  alone.  Administer  the  system 


Reformation  of  Children.  83 

that  you  have  with  all  the  equality,  uniformity,  and 
certainty,  that  you  can  command.  As  a  general 
truth,  it  may  be  said  that  the  law  is  respected  when 
these  qualities  are  exhibited  in  its  administration  ; 
and,  when  these  qualities  are  wanting,  the  spirit  of 
obedience  is  driven  from  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the 
people. 

But  we  are  not  to  rely  altogether,  nor  even  chiefly, 
upon  the  visible  weapons  of  authority.  Especially 
must  the  mind  and  heart  of  childhood  and  youth  be 
approached  and  quickened  and  strengthened  by  judi- 
cious appeals  to  the  sentiments  of  veneration  and 
love,  and  to  the  principles  of  the  Christian  faith.  In 
this  institution,  one  serious  obstacle  is  present ;  yet 
it  may  be  overcome  by  energy,  industry,  and  a  spirit 
of  benevolence.  I  speak  of  the  large  number  of 
inmates  to  be  superintended  by  one  person.  Men  act 
in  masses  for  the  removal  of  general  evils  ;  but  the 
reformation  of  children  must  be  individual,  and  to  a 
great  extent  dependent  upon  the  agency,  or  at  least 
upon  the  cooperation,  of  the  subjects  of  it.  It  is 
not  easy  for  the  superintendent  to  make  himself 
acquainted  with  the  persons  and  familiar  with  the 
lives  of  six  hundred  boys ;  yet  this  knowledge  is 
quite  essential  to  the  exercise  of  a  salutary  influence 
over  them.  He  may  be  aided  by  the  subordinate  offi- 
cers of  the  institution  ;  and  that  aid,  under  any  cir- 


84  Reformation  of  Children. 

cumstances,  he  will  need :  but,  after  all,  his  own  influ- 
ence and  power  for  good  will  be  measured  by  the 
extent  of  his  personal  acquaintance  with  the  inmates 
as  individuals.  First,  then,  government  is  essential 
to  this  school ;  not  a  reign  of  terror,  but  a  govern- 
ment whose  majesty,  power,  equality,  certainty,  uni- 
formity, and  consequent  justice,  shall  be  experienced 
by  all  alike  ;  and,  being  experienced  by  all  alike,  will 
be  respected,  reverenced,  and  obeyed. 

And  next  the  social,  intellectual,  and  moral  influ- 
ences of  the  school  and  the  home  should  be  com- 
bined and  mingled,  or  else  the  visible  forms  of  gov- 
ernment become  a  skeleton,  merely  indicating  the 
figure,  structure,  and  outline,  of  the  perfect  body, 
but  destitute  of  the  vital  principle  which  alone  could 
render  it  of  any  value  to  itself  or  to  the  world. 

This  institution  is  not  an  end,  but  a  means.  The 
home  itself  is  only  a  preparatory  school  for  life. 
This  is  a  substitute  for  the  home,  but  is  not,  and 
never  can  be,  its  equal.  It  therefore  follows  that 
a  boy  should  be  removed  whenever  a  home  can  be 
secured,  especially  if  his  reformation  has  been  pre- 
viously so  far  accomplished  as  to  render  the  comple- 
tion of  the  work  probable. 

A  great  trust  has  been  confided  to  the  officers  of 
the  Reform-  School ;  but  the  power  to  do  good  is 
URually  proportionate  to  the  responsibility  imposed 


Reformation  of  Children.  85 

upon  the  laborer.  In  this  view,  much  will  be  ex- 
pected ;  but  the  expectations  formed  ought  not  to 
relate  so  much  to  results  as  to  the  wisdom  and 
humanity  with  which  the  operations  are  conducted. 
Massachusetts  is  charged  with  the  support  of  a 
great  number  of  charitable  and  reformatory  institu- 
tions. Their  necessity  springs  from  the  defects  of 
social  life  ;  therefore  their  existence  is  a  comparative 
rather  than  a  positive  good ;  and  he  is  the  truest 
friend  of  the  race  who  does  most  to  remove  the 
causes  of  poverty,  ignorance,  insanity,  mental  and 

physical  weakness,  moral  waywardness,  and  crime. 
8 


THE  CARE  AND  REFORMATION  OF  THE  NEGLECTED 
AND  EXPOSED  CLASSES  OF  CHILDREN. 

[An  Address  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  State  Industrial  School  for  Girls,  at 
Lancaster,  Massachusetts.] 

IN  man's  limited  view,  the  moral  world  presents  a 
sad  contrast  to  the  natural.  The  natural  world  is 
harmonious  in  all  its  parts  ;  but  the  moral  world  is 
the  theatre  of  disturbing  and  conflicting  forces, 
whose  laws  the  finite  mind  cannot  comprehend. 
The  majesty  and  uniformity  of  the  planetary  revolu- 
tions, which  bring  day  and  night,  summer  and  win- 
ter, seed-time  and  harvest,  know  no  change.  Worlds 
and  systems  of  worlds  are  guided  by  a  law  of  the 
Infinite  Mind  ;  and  so,  through  unnumbered  years 
and  myriads  of  years,  birth  and  death,  creation  and 
decay,  decrees  whose  fixedness  enables  finite  minds 
to  predict  the  future,  and  rules  whose  elasticity  is 
seen  in  a  never-ending  variety  of  nature,  all  alike 
prove  that  the  sin  of  disobedience  is  upon  man 
alone. 

But,  if  man  only,  of  all  the  varied  creations  of 
earth,  may  fall  from  his  high  estate,  so  to  him  only 
is  given  the  power  to  rise  again,  and  feebly,  yet  with 

(86) 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.         87 

faith,  advance  towards  the  Divine  Excellence.  This, 
then,  is  the  great  thought  of  the  occasion,  to  be 
accepted  by  the  hearts  and  illustrated  in  the  lives 
of  all.  The  fallen  may  be  raised  up,  the  exposed 
may  be  shielded,  the  wanderers  may  be  called  home, 
or  else  this  house  is  built  upon  the  sand,  and  doomed 
to  fall  when  the  rains  shall  descend,  the  floods  come, 
and  the  winds  blow.  The  returning  autumn,  with 
its  harvest  of  sustenance  and  wealth,  bids  us  contem- 
plate again  the  mystery  and  harmony  of  the  natural 
world.  The  tree  and  the  herb  produce  seed,  and 
the  seed  again  produces  the  tree  and  the  herb,  each 
after  its  kind.  There  is  a  continued  production  and 
reproduction  ;  but  of  responsibility  there  is  none. 
As  there  is  no  intelligent  violation  of  law,  there  is 
no  accountability.  Man,  however,  is  an  intelligent, 
dependent,  fallible,  and,  of  course,  responsible  being. 
He  is  responsible  for  himself,  responsible  in  some 
degree  for  his  fellow-man.  There  is  not  a  chapter 
in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  nor  a  day  of  its 
experience,  which  does  not  show  that  the  individual 
members  are  dependent  upon,  and  responsible  to, 
each  other.  This  great  fact,  of  six  thousand  years' 
duration,  at  once  presents  to  us  the  necessity  for 
government,  and  defines  the  limits  of  its  powers  and 
duties.  Government,  then,  is  a  union  of  all  for  the 
protection  and  welfare  of  each.  This  definition  pre- 


88         Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

sents,  in  its  principles  and  statement,  the  highest 
form  of  human  government,  —  a  form  not  yet  per- 
fectly realized  on  earth.  It  sets  forth  rather  what 
government  ought  to  be,  than  what  it  has  been  or  is. 
Too  often  historical  governments,  and  living  govern- 
ments even,  may  be  defined  as  a  union  of  a  few  for 
their  benefit,  and  for  the  oppression  of  many.  The 
reason  of  man  has  not  often  been  consulted  in  their 
formation,  and  the  interests  and  principles  of  the 
masses  have  usually  been  disregarded  in  their  admin- 
istration. 

A  true  government  is  at  once  representative,  patri- 
archal, and  paternal.  In  the  path  of  duty  for  this 
day  and  this  occasion,  we  shall  consider  the  last- 
named  quality  only,  —  governments  should  be  pater- 
nal. The  paternal  government  is  devoted  to  the 
elevation  and  improvement  of  its  members,  with  no 
ulterior  motive  except  the  necessary  results  of  inter- 
nal purity  and  strength.  Every  government  is,  in 
some  degree,  no  doubt,  paternal.  Nor  are  those 
governments  to  be  regarded  as  eminently  so,  where 
the  people  arc  most  controlled  in  their  private,  per- 
sonal affairs.  These  are  mere  despotisms  ;  and  des- 
potism is  not  a  just  nor  necessary  element  of  the 
paternal  relation.  That  government  is  most  truly 
paternal  which  does  most  to  enable  its  citizens  or 
subjects  to  regulate  their  own  conduct,  and  deter- 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.         89 

mine  their  relations  to  others.  In  the  midst  of  gen- 
eral darkness,  the  paternal  element  of  government 
has  been  a  light  to  the  human  race.  It  modified  the 
patriarchal  slavery  of  the  Hebrews,  relieved  the  iron 
rule  of  Sparta,  made  European  feudalism  the  hope 
of  civilization  in  the  Dark  Ages,  and  the  basis  of  its 
coming  glories  in  the  near  future  ;  and  it  now  leads 
men  to  look  with  toleration  upon  the  despotism  of 
Russia,  and  with  kindness  upon  the  simplicity  and 
arrogance  of  the  Celestial  Empire. 

We  complain,  justly  enough,  that  the  world  is 
governed  too  much  ;  and  yet,  in  a  great  degree,  we 
neglect  the  means  by  which  the  proper  relations  of 
society  could  be  preserved,  and  the  world  be  gov- 
erned less.  In  what  works  are  the  so-called  Chris- 
tian governments  principally  engaged  ?  Are  they 
not  seeking,  by  artifice,  diplomacy,  and  war,  to 
extend  national  boundaries,  preserve  national  honor, 
or  enforce  nice  distinctions  against  the  timid  and 
weak  ?  Yet  it  is  plain  that  a  nation  is  powerful  ac- 
cording to  the  character  of  the  living  elements  of 
which  it  is  composed.  If  it  is  disorganized  morally, 
uncultivated  in  intellect,  ignorant,  indolent,  or  waste- 
ful in  its  labor,  its  claims  to  greatness  are  destitute 
of  solid  foundation,  and  it  must  finally  yield  to  those 
that  have  sought  and  gained  power  by  the  elevation 
of  the  individual  as  the  element  of  the  nation. 
8* 


90         Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

That  nation,  then,  is  wise,  and  destined  to  become 
truly  great,  which  cultivates  the  best  elements  of 
individual  life  and  character.  It  is  not  enough  to 
read  the  parable  of  the  lost  sheep,  and  of  the  ninety 
and  nine  that  went  not  astray,  and  then  say,  "Even 
so,  it  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father  which  is  in 
heaven  that  one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish, " 
while  the  means  of  salvation,  as  regards  the  life  of 
this  world  merely,  are  very  generally  neglected. 
Such  neglect  is  followed  by  error  and  crime  ;  and 
error  and  crime  are  followed  by  judgment  not  always 
tempered  with  mercy. 

While  human  governments  debate  questions  of 
war  and  peace,  of  trade  and  revenue,  of  annexations 
with  ceremony,  and  appropriations  of  territory  with- 
out ceremony,  who  shall  answer  to  the  Governor 
and  Judge  of  all  for  the  neglect,  indifference,  and 
oppression,  which  beget  and  foster  the  delinquencies 
of  childhood,  and  harden  the  criminals  of  adult  life  ? 

And  who  shall  answer  for  those  distinctions  of 
caste  and  systems  of  labor  which  so  degrade  and 
famish  masses  of  human  beings,  that  the  divine  mir- 
acle of  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  must  be 
multiplied  many  times  over  before  the  truths  of 
nature  or  revelation  can  be  received  into  teachable 
minds  or  susceptible  hearts  ?  And  who  shall  answer 
for  the  hereditary  poverty,  ignorance  and  crime, 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.         91 

which  constitute  a  marked  feature  of  English  life, 
and  are  distinctly  visible  upon  the  face  of  American 
civilization  ?  These  questions  may  point  with  suffi- 
cient distinctness  to  the  sources  of  the  evils  enumer- 
ated ;  but  we  are  not  to  assume  that  mere  human 
governments  can  furnish  an  adequate  and  complete 
remedy.  Yet  this  admitted  inability  to  do  every- 
thing is  no  excuse  for  neglecting  those  things  which 
are  plainly  within  their  power.  Taking  upon  them- 
selves the  parental  character,  forgetting  that  they 
have  wrongs  to  avenge,  and  seeking  reformation 
through  kindness,  criminals  and  the  causes  of  crime 
will  diminish,  if  they  do  not  disappear.  This  is  the 
responsibility  of  the  nations,  and  the  claim  now  made 
upon  them.  Individual  civilization  and  refinement 
have  always  been  in  advance  of  national ;  and  na- 
tional character  is  the  mirrored  image  of  the  indi 
vidual  characters,  not  excepting  the  humblest,  of 
which  the  nation  is  composed.  Each  foot  of  the 
ocean's  surface  has,  in  its  fluidity  or  density  or  posi- 
tion, something  of  the  quality  or  power  of  every 
drop  of  water  which  rests  or  moves  in  the  depths  of 
the  sea.  What  is  called  national  character  is  the 
face  of  the  great  society  beneath  ;  and,  as  that 
society  in  its  elements  is  elevated  or  debased,  so 
will  the  national  character  rise  or  fall  in  the 
estimation  of  all  just  men,  and  upon  the  page 


92         Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

of  impartial  history.  Government,  which  is  the 
organized  expression  of  the  will  of  society,  should 
represent  the  best  elements  of  which  society  is 
composed ;  and  it  ought,  therefore,  to  combat 
error  and  wrong,  and  seek  to  inaugurate  labor, 
justice,  and  truth,  as  the  elements  of  stability, 
growth,  and  power.  It  must  accept  as  its  principles 
of  action  the  best  rules  of  conduct  in  individuals. 
The  man  who  avenges  his  personal  wrongs  by  per- 
sonal attacks  or  vindictive  retaliation,  must  sacrifice 
in  some  measure  the  sympathy  of  the  wise,  the 
humane,  and  the  good.  So  the  nation  which  avenges 
real  or  fancied  wrongs  crushes  out  the  elements  of 
humanity  and  a  higher  life,  which,  properly  culti- 
vated, might  lead  an  erring  mortal  to  virtue  and 
peace.  The  proper  object  of  punishment  is  not  ven- 
geance, but  the  public  safety  and  the  reformation  of 
the  criminal.  Indeed,  we  may  say  that  the  sole 
object  of  punishment  is  the  reformation  of  the  crim- 
inal ;  for  there  can  be  no  safety  to  the  public  while 
the  criminal  is  unreformed.  The  punishment  of  the 
prison  must,  from  its  nature,  be  temporary  ;  perpetual 
confinement  can  be  meted  out  to  a  few  great  crimes 
only.  If,  then,  the  result  of  punishment  be  ven- 
geance, and  not  reformation,  the  last  state  of  society 
is  worse  than  its  first.  The  prison  must  stand  a  sad 
monument  of  the  want  of  true  paternal  government 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.         93 

in  the  family  and  the  state  ;  but,  when  it  becomes 
the  receptacle  merely  of  the  criminal,  and  all  i'deas 
of  reformation  are  banished  from  the  hearts  of  con- 
victs and  the  minds  of  keepers,  its  influence  is  evil, 
and  only  evil  continually. 

Vice,  driven  from  the  presence  of  virtue,  with  no 
hope 'of  reformation  or  of  restoration  to  society, 
begets  vice,  and  becomes  daily  more  and  more  loath- 
some. Misery  is  so  universal  that  some  share  falls 
to  the  lot  of  all  ;  but  that  misery  whose  depths  can- 
not be  sounded,  whose  heights  cannot  be  scaled,  is 
the  fortune  of  the  prison  convict  only,  who  has  no 
hope  of  reformation  to  virtue  or  of  restoration  to  the 
world.  His  is  the  only  misery  that  is  unrelieved  ; 
his  is  the  only  burden  that  is  too  great  to  be  borne. 
To  him  the  foliage  of  the  tree,  the  murmur  of  the 
brook,  the  mirror  of  the  quiet  lake,  or  the  thunder 
of  the  heaving  ocean,  would  be  equally  acceptable. 
His  separation  from  nature  is  no  less  burdensome 
than  his  separation  from  man.  The  heart  sinks,  the 
spirit  turns  with  a  consuming  fire  upon  itself,  the 
soul  is  in  despair  ;  the  mind  is  first  nerved  and  des- 
perate, then  wandering  and  savage,  then  idiotic,  and 
finally  goes  out  in  death.  Governments  cannot  often 
afford  to  protect  themselves,  or  to  avenge  themselves, 
at  such  a  cost.  There  may  be  great  crimes  on  which 


94         Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

such  awful  penalties  should  be  visited ;  but,  for  the 
honor  of  the  race,  let  them  be  few. 

We  may  err  in  our  ideas  of  the  true  relations  of 
the  prison  to  the  prisoner.  We  call  a  prison  good 
or  bad  when  we  see  its  walls,  cells,  workshops,  its 
means  of  security,  and  points  of  observation.  These 
are  very  well.  They  are  something ;  but  they  are 
not  all.  We  might  so  judge  a  hospital  for  the  sick  ; 
and  we  did  once  so  judge  an  asylum  for  the  insane. 

But  what  to  the  sick  man  are  walls  of  wood,  brick, 
granite,  or  marble  ?  What  are  towers  and  turrets, 
what  are  wards,  halls,  and  verandas,  if  withal  he  is 
not  cheered  and  sustained  by  the  sympathizing  heart 
and  helping  hand  ?  And  similar  preparations  fur- 
nish for  the  insane  personal  security  and  physical 
comfort ;  but  can  they 

"  Minister  to  a  mind  diseased  ; 
Pluck  from  the  memory  a  rooted  sorrow  ; 
Raze  oat  the  written  troubles  of  the  brain  ?  " 

And  it  may  be  that  the  old  almshouse  at  Philadel- 
phia, which  was  nearly  destitute  of  material  aids,  and 
had  only  superintendent,  matrons,  and  assistants, 
WM,  all  in  all,  the  best  insane  asylum  in  America. 

Wo  cannot  neglect  the  claims  of  security,  disci- 
pline, and  labor,  in  the  erection  of  jails  and  prisons ; 
but  to  acknowledge  these  merely  will  never  produce 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.         95 

the  proper  fruit  of  punishment  —  reformation.  In- 
deed, walls  of  stone,  gates  of  iron,  bolts,  locks,  and 
armed  sentinels,  though  essential  to  security,  with- 
out which  there  could  be  neither  punishment  nor 
reformation,  are  in  themselves  barriers  rather  than 
helps  to  moral  progress.  Standing  outside,  we  can- 
not say  what  should  be  done  either  in  the  insane 
hospital  or  the  prison  ;  but  we  can  deduce  from  the 
experience  of  modern  times  a  safe  rule  for  general 
conduct.  In  the  insane  hospital  the  patient  is  to 
be  treated  as  though  he  were  sane  ;  and  in  the  jail 
the  prisoner  is  to  be  treated,  nearly  as  may  be,  as 
though  he  were  virtuous.  This  rule,  especially  as 
much  of  it  as  applies  to  the  prisoner,  may  be  reck- 
lessness to  some,  to  others  folly,  to  others  sin. 

"  The  court  awards  it,  and  the  law  doth  give  it," 
is  no  doubt  the  essence  and  strength  of  govern- 
mental justice  in  the  sentence  decreed  ;  but  it  would 
be  a  sad  calamity  if  there  were  no  escape  from  its 
literal  fulfilment.  And  let  no  one  borrow  the  words 
of  Portia  to  the  Jew,  and  say  to  t]je  state, 

*'  Nor  cut  thou  less  nor  more, 
But  just  a  pound  of  flesh." 

As  the  criminal  staggers  beneath  the  accumulated 
weight  of  his  sin  and  its  penalty,  he  should  feel  that 
the  state  is  not  only  just  in  the  language  of  its  law, 
but  merciful  in  its  administration  ;  that  the  govern- 


96         Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

ment  is,  in  truth,  paternal.  This  feeling  inspires 
confidence  and  hope  ;  and  without  these  there  can 
be  no  reformation.  And,  following  this  thought,  we 
are  led  to  say,  it  is  a  sad  and  mischievous  public 
delusion  that  the  pardoning  power  is  useless  or  per- 
nicious. It  is  a  delusion ;  for  it  is  the  only  means  by 
which  the  state  mingles  mercy  with  its  justice,  — 
the  means  by  which  the  better  sentiments  of  the 
prison  are  marshalled  in  favor  of  order,  of  law,  of 
progress.  It  is  a  public  delusion ;  for  it  has  infected 
not  only  the  masses  of  society,  who  know  little  of 
what  is  going  on  in  courts  and  prisons,  but  its  influ- 
ence is  observed  upon  the  bench  and  in  the  bar, 
especially  among  those  who  are  accustomed  to  pros- 
ecute and  try  criminals.  This  is  not  strange,  nor 
shall  it  be  a  subject  of  complaint ;  but  we  must  not 
always  look  upon  the  prisoner  as  a  criminal,  and 
continually  disregard  his  claims  as  a  man.  It  is  not 
often  easy,  nor  always  possible,  to  make  the  proper 
distinction  between  the  character  and  condition  of 
the  prisoner.  But  the  prison,  strange  as  it  may 
Beem,  follows  the  general  law  of  life.  It  has  its 
public  sentiment,  its  classes,  its  leading  minds,  as 
well  as  the  university  or  the  state  ;  it  has  its  men  of 
mark,  either  good  or  bad,  as  well  as  congress  or 
parliament.  As  the  family,  the  church,  or  the 
school,  is  the  reflection  of  the  best  face  of  society, 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.         97 

so  the  prison  is  the  reflection  of  the  worst  face  of 
society.  But  it  nevertheless  is  society,  and  follows 
its  laws  with  as  much  fidelity  as  the  world  at  large. 

It  is  said  that  Abbe  Fissiaux,  the  head  of  the 
colony  of  Marseilles,  when  visiting  Mettray,  a  kind 
of  reform  school,  at  which  boys  under  sixteen  years 
of  age,  who  have  committed  offences  without  dis- 
cernment, are  sent,  asked  the  colonists  to  point  out 
to  him  the  three  best  boys.  The  looks  of  the  whole 
body  immediately  designated  three  young  persons 
whose  conduct  had  been  irreproachable  to  an  excep- 
tional degree.  He  then  applied  a  more  delicate  test. 
"Point  out  to  me/7  said  he,  "the  worst  boy.'7  All 
the  children  remained  motionless,  and  made  no  sign ; 
but  one  little  urchin  came  forward,  with  a  pitiful  air, 
and  said,  in  a  very  low  tone,  "It  is  me"  Such 
were  the  public  sentiment  and  sense  of  honor,  even 
in  a  reform  school.  This  frankness  in  the  lad  was 
followed  by  reformation  ;  and  he  became  in  after 
years  a  good  soldier,  —  the  life  anticipated  for  many 
members  of  the  institution. 

The  pardoning  power  is  not  needed  in  reform  and 
industrial  schools,  where  the  managers  have  discre- 
tionary authority  ;  but  it  is  quite  essential  to  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  prison  to  let  the  light  of  hope  into  the 
prisoner's  heart.  Not  that  all  are  to  enjoy  the  bene- 
fits of  executive  clemency,  — by  no  means  :  only  the 


98         Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

most  worthy  and  promising  are  to  be  thus  favored. 
But,  for  many  years,  the  Massachusetts  prison  has 
been  improved  and  elevated  in  its  tone  and  senti- 
ment above  what  it  would  have  been  ;  while,  as  it  is 
believed,  over  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  convicts  thus 
discharged  have  conducted  themselves  well.  If  the 
prisoner's  conduct  has  not  been,  upon  the  whole, 
reasonably  good,  and  for  a  long  time  irreproachable, 
he  has  no  chance  for  clemency  ;  and,  whatever  may 
be  his  conduct,  and  whatever  may  be  the  hopes 
inspired,  he  should  not  be  allowed  to  pass  without 
the  prison  walls  until  a  friend,  labor,  and  a  home, 
are  secured  for  him.  And  the  exercise  of  the  par- 
doning power,  if  it  anticipate  the  expiration  of  the 
legal  sentence  but  a  month,  a  week,  or  a  day  even, 
may  change  the  whole  subsequent  life.  Men,  crim- 
inals, convicts,  are  not  insensible  to  kindness ;  and 
when  the  government  shortens  the  legal  sentence, 
which  is  usually  their  measure  of  justice,  they  feel 
an  additional  obligation  to  so  behave  as  to  bring 
no  discredit  upon  a  power  which  has  been  a 
source  of  inestimable  joy  to  them.  And  prisoners 
thus  discharged  have  often  gone  forth  with  a  feeling 
that  the  hopes  of  many  whom  they  had  left  behind 
were  control  in  them. 

Mr.  Charles  Forster,  of  Charlestown,  says,  in  a 
1<  tier  to  me :  "I  have  been  connected  with  the  Mas- 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.          99 

sachusetts  State  Prison  for  a  period  of  thirty-eight 
years,  and  have  always  felt  a  strong  interest  in  the 
improvement,  welfare,  and  happiness,  of  the  unfor- 
tunate men  confined  within  its  walls.  I  am  conver- 
sant with  many  touching  cases  of  deep  and  heartfelt 
gratitude  for  kindly  acts  and  sympathy  bestowed 
upon  them,  both  during  and  subsequent  to  their  im- 
prisonment." And  the  same  gentleman  says  further, 
"I  think  that  the  proportion  of  persons  discharged 
from  prison  by  executive  clemency,  who  have  subse- 
quently been  convicted  of  penal  offences,  is  very 
small  indeed."  To  some,  whose  imaginations  have 
pictured  a  broad  waste  or  deep  gulf  between  them- 
selves and  the  prisoner  class,  these  may  seem 
strange  words  ;  but  there  is  no  mystery  in  this  lan- 
guage to  those  who  have  listened  to  individual  cases 
of  crime  and  punishment.  Men  are  tried  and  con- 
victed of  crimes  according  to  rules  and  definitions 
which  are  necessarily  arbitrary  and  technical  ;  but 
the  moral  character  of  criminals  is  not  very  well 
defined  by  the  rules  and  definitions  which  have  been 
applied  to  their  respective  cases.  Our  prisons  con- 
tain men  who  are  great  and  professional  criminals, 
—  men  who  advisedly  follow  a  life  of  crime  them- 
selves, and  deliberately  educate  generation  after 
generation  to  a  career  of  infamy  and  vice.  As  a 
general  thing,  mercy  to  such  men  would  be  unpar- 


100       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

donablo  folly.  Of  them  I  do  not  now  speak.  But 
there  is  another  class,  who  are  involved  in  guilt  and 
its  punishment  through  the  defects  of  early  educa- 
tion, the  misfortune  of  orphanage,  accident,  sudden 
temptation,  or  the  influence  of  evil  companionship  in 
youth. 

The  field  from  which  this  class  is  gathered  is  an 
extensive  one,  and  its  outer  limits  are  near  to  every 
hearthstone.  To  all  these,  prison  life,  unless  it  is 
relieved  by  a.hope  of  restoration  to  the  world  at  the 
hand  of  mercy,  is  the  school  of  vice,  and  a  certain 
preparation  for  a  career  of  crime.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  this  class  does  furnish  recruits  to  supply  the 
places  of  the  hardened  villains  who  annually  die,  or 
permanently  forsake  the  abodes  of  civilized  men. 
What  hope  can  there  be  for  a  young  man  who  re- 
mains in  prison  until  the  last  day  of  his  sentence  is 
measured  by  the  sun  in  his  course,  and  then  passes 
into  the  world,  with  the  mark  of  disgrace  and  tho 
mantlo  of  shame  upon  him,  to  the  society  of  the  com- 
panions by  whose  influence  he  first  fell  ?  For  such 
a  one  there  can  be  no  hope.  And  be  it  always 
remembered  that  there  are  those  without  the  prison 
walls,  as  well  as  many  within,  who  resist  every 
effort  to  bring  the  wanderers  back  to  obedience  and 
right.  I  was  present  at  the  prison  in  Charlestown 
when  the  model  of  a  bank-lock  was  taken  from  a 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       101 

young  man  whose  term  had  nearly  expired.  The 
model  was  cut  in  wood,  after  a  plan  drawn  upon 
sand-paper  by  an  experienced  criminal,  then  recently 
convicted.  This  old  offender  was  so  familiar  with 
the  lock,  that  he  was  able  to  reproduce  all  its  parts 
from  memory  alone.  This  fact  shows  the  influence 
that  may  be  exerted,  even  in  prison,  upon  the  char- 
acters of  the  young  and  less  vicious.  Now,  can 
any  doubt  that  these  classes,  as  classes,  ought  to 
be  separated  ?  Nor  let  the  question  be  met  by 
the  old  statement,  that  all  communication  between 
prisoners  should  be  cut  off.  Humanity  cannot 
defend,  as  a  permanent  system,  the  plan  which 
shuts  up  the  criminal,  unless  he  is  a  murderer, 
from  the  light  of  the  human  countenance.  Such 
penalties  foster  crimes,  whose  roots  take  hold  of 
the  state  itself. 

The  result  of  the  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power 
is  believed  to  have  been,  upon  the  whole,  satisfac- 
tory. This  is  the  concurrent  testimony  of  officers 
and  others  whose  opinions  are  entitled  to  weight. 
Permit  the  statement  of  a  single  case,  to  which 
many  similar  ones  might  be  added.  In  a  remote 
state  of  the  West  there  is  a  respectable  and  suc- 
cessful farmer,  who  was  once  sentenced  to  the  peni- 
tentiary for  life.  His  crime  was  committed  in  a 
moment  of  desperation,  produced  by  the  contrast 
9* 


102       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

between  a  state  of  abject  poverty  in  a  strange  land, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  and  the  recollection  of 
childhood  and  youth  passed  beneath  the  parental  roof, 
surrounded  by  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  the 
well-educated  and  well-conditioned  classes  of  Eng- 
lish society.  This,  it  is  true,  was  a  peculiar  case. 
It  was  marked  in  the  circumstances  and  enormity 
of  the  crime,  and  marked  in  the  subsequent  good 
conduct  of  the  prisoner.  But  can  any  one  ob- 
ject, that,  after  ten  years'  imprisonment,  this  man 
was  allowed  to  try  his  fortunes  once  more  among 
his  fellow-men  ?  Are  there  those  who  would  have 
had  no  faith  in  his  uninterrupted  good  conduct ;  in 
the  abundant  evidence  of  complete  reformation  ;  in 
the  fact  that,  in  prison  and  poverty  and  disgrace, 
he  had  allied  to  him  friends  of  name  and  fortune  and 
Christian  virtues,  who  were  ready  to  aid  him  in  his 
good  resolutions  ?  If  any  such  there  be,  let  them 
visit  the  solitary  cell  of  the  despairing  convict, 
whose  crime  is  so  great  that  executive  clemency 
fears  to  approach  it.  Crime  and  despair  have  made 
the  features  appalling ;  all  the  worst  passions  of 
our  nature  riot  together  in  the  temple  made  for  the 
living  God  ;  and  the  death  of  the  body  is  almost  cer- 
tainly to  be  preceded  by  madness,  insanity,  and 
idiocy  of  the  mind.  Or,  if  any  think  that  this  per- 
son escaped  with  too  light  an  expiation  for  so  great 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       103 

a  crime,  let  them  recall  the  incident  of  the  youth 
who  was  questioned  because  he  looked  with  fond 
affection  into  the  babbling  face  of  the  running  brook, 
and,  apologizing,  as  it  were,  in  reply  said,  "  0,  yes, 
it  is  very  beautiful,  and  especially  to  me,  who  have 
seen  no  water  for  four  years,  beside  what  I  have  had 
to  drink  ! " 

Nor  is  it  assumed,  in  all  that  is  said  upon  this 
subject,  that  the  laws  are  severe,  or  that  the  judicial 
administration  of  them  is  not  characterized  by  jus- 
tice and  mercy.  In  the  ordinary  course  of  affairs, 
the  pardoning  power  is  not  resorted  to  for  the  cor- 
rection of  any  error  or  injustice  of  the  courts  ;  but  it 
is  the  means  by  which  the  state  tempers  its  justice 
with  mercy  ;  and,  if  the  penalties  for  crime  were  less 
than  they  are,  the  necessity  for  the  exercise  of  this 
power  would  still  remain.  It  assumes  that  the 
object  of  the  penal  law  is  reformation  ;  and  if  this 
object,  in  some  cases,  can  be  attained  by  the  exer- 
cise of  the  pardoning  power,  while  the  rigid  execu- 
tion of  the  sentence  would  leave  the  criminal,  as  it 
usually  will,  still  hardened  and  unrepenting,  is  it 
not  wise  for  the  state  to  benefit  itself,  and  save  the 
prisoner,  by  opening  the  prison-doors,  and  inviting 
the  convict  to  a  life  of  industry  and  virtue  ?  And 
let  it  never  be  forgotten,  though  it  is  the  lowest 
view  which  can  be  taken  of  crime  and  prisons,  that 


104       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

the  criminal  class  is  the  most  expensive  class  of 
society.  In  general,  it  is  a  non-producing  class, 
and,  whether  in  prison  or  out,  is  a  heavy  burden 
upon  the  public.  The  mere  interest  of  the  money 
now  expended  in  prisons  of  approved  structure  is, 
fur  each  cell,  equal  annually  to  the  net  income  of  a 
laboring  man  ;  and  professional  thieves,  when  at 
large,  often  gather  by  their  art,  and  expend  in  prof- 
ligacy, many  thousand  dollars  a  year.  And  here 
we  see  how  much  wiser  it  is,  in  an  economical 
point  of  view,  to  save  the  child,  or  reform  the  man, 
than  to  allow  the  adult  criminal  to  go  at  large,  or 
provide  for  his  safe-keeping  at  the  expense  of  the 
state. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  pardoning  power,  wise- 
ly executed,  the  commonwealth  becomes  a  family, 
whose  law  is  the  law  of  kindness.  It  is  the  pater- 
nal element  of  government  applied  to  a  class  of 
people  who,  by  every  process  of  reasoning,  would 
be  found  least  susceptible  to  its  influence.  It  is  the 
great  power  of  the  state,  both  in  the  wisdom  re- 
quired for  its  judicious  exercise,  and  in  the  benefi- 
cial results  to  which  it  may  lead.  Men  may  desire 
office  for  its  emoluments  in  money  or  fame ;  they 
may  seek  it  in  a  spirit  of  rivalry,  or  for  personal 
pride,  or  for  the  opportunity  it  brings  to  reward 
friends  and  punish  enemies  ;  but  all  these  are  poor 


Training  of"  Exposed  Children.       105 

and  paltry  compared  with  the  divine  privilege,  exer- 
cised always  in  reference  to  the  public  welfare,  of 
elevating  the  prisoner  to  the  companionship  of  men, 
and  cheering  him  with  words  of  encouragement  on 
his  entrance  anew  to  the  duties  of  life. 

Yet  think  not  that  the  prison  is  a  reformatory  in- 
stitution :  far  from  it.  If  the  prison  should  be  left  to 
the  influence  of  legitimate  prison  discipline  merely, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  the  sum  of  improvement 
would  equal  the  total  of  degradation.  This  may  be 
said  of  the  best  prisons  of  America,  of  New  Eng- 
land. The  prison  usually  contains  every  class,  from 
the  hardened  convict,  incarcerated  for  house-break- 
ing, robbery,  or  murder,  to  the  youth  who  expiates 
his  first  offence,  committed  under  the  influence  of 
evil  companions,  or  sudden  temptation.  The  con- 
tact of  these  two  persons  must  be  injurious  to  one 
of  them,  without  in  any  degree  improving  the  other. 
Therefore  the  prison,  considered  without  reference 
to  the  elevating  influence  of  the  pardoning  power, 
has  but  little  ability  to  reform  the  bad,  and  yet 
possesses  a  sad  tendency  to  debase  the  compara- 
tively good. 

We  miss,  too,  in  the  prison,  another  essential 
element  of  a  reformatory  institution.  Reformation 
in  individual  cases  may  take  place  under  the  most 
adverse  circumstances  ;  but  an  institution  cannot 


106       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

i 

be  called  reformatory  unless  its  prevailing  moral 
sentiment  is  actively,  vigorously,  and  always,  on 
the  side  of  progress  and  virtue.  This  moral  influ- 
ence must  proceed  from  the  officers  of  the  institu- 
tion ;  but  it  should  be  increased  and  strengthened 
by  the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  inmates.  This 
can  hardly  be  expected  of  the  prison.  The  number 
of  adult  persons  experienced  in  crime  and  hardened 
by  its  penalties  is  usually  so  large,  that  the  moral 
sentiment  of  the  officers,  and  the  weak  resolutions 
of  the  small  class  of  prisoners,  who,  under  favorable 
circumstances,  might  be  saved,  are  insufficient  to 
give  a  healthy  tone  to  the  whole  institution.  The 
prison  is  a  battle-field  of  vice  and  virtue,  with  the  ad- 
vantage of  position  and  numbers  on  the  side  of  vice. 
Indeed,  there  can  hardly  be  a  worse  place  for  the 
young  or  the  inexperienced  in  crime.  This  is  the 
testimony  of  reason  and  of  all  experience  ;  yet  the 
public  mind  is  slow  to  accept  the  remedy  for  the  evil. 
It  is  a  privilege  to  believe  that  the  worst  scenes  of 
prison  life  are  not  found  in  the  United  States.  Con- 
sider this  case,  reported  in  an  English  journal,  The 
Ragged- School  Magazine  : 

"D.  F.f  aged  about  fourteen.  Mother  dead  sev- 
eral years  ;  father  a  drunkard,  and,  deserted  him 
about  three  years  ago.  Has  since  lived  as  he  best 
could,  —  sometimes  going  errands,  sonx -tim.  s  beg- 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       107 

ging  and  thieving1.  Slept  in  lodging-houses  when 
he  had  money  ;  but  very  often  walked  the  streets 
at  night,  or  lay  under  arches  or  door-steps.  Has 
only  one  brother ;  he  lives  by  thieving.  Does  not 
know  where  he  is  ;  has  no  other  friend  that  he 
knows  ;  never  learnt  to  read  ;  was  badly  off ;  picked 
a  handkerchief  out  of  a  gentleman's  pocket,  and 
was  caught  by  a  policeman  ;  sent  to  Giltspur-street 
Prison  ;  was  fed  on  bread  and  water  ;  instructed 
every  day  by  chaplain  and  schoolmaster  ;  much  im- 
pressed with  what  the  chaplain  said  ;  felt  anxious 
to  do  better ;  behaved  well  in  prison ;  was  well 
flogged  the  morning  he  left;  back  bruised,  but  not 
quite  bleeding ;  was  then  turned  into  the  street, 
ragged,  barefooted,  friendless,  homeless,  penniless  ; 
walked  about  the  streets  till  afternoon,  when  he 
received  a  penny  from  a  gentleman  to  buy  a  loaf; 
met,  next  day,  some  expert  thieves  in  the  Minories ; 
went  along  with  them,  and  continues  in  a  course  of 
vagrancy  and  crime." 

And  what  else  could  have  been  expected  ?  The 
government,  having  sown  tares,  had  no  right  to 
gather  wheat.  Yet,  had  this  boy  been  provided 
with  a  home,  either  in  a  family  or  a  reform  school, 
with  sufficient  labor,  and  proper  moral  and  intel- 
lectual culture,  he  might  have  been  saved.  Of  the 
three  thousand  persons  annually  in  prison  at  New- 


108       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

gate,  four  hundred  are  less  than  sixteen  years  of 
age  ;  and  twenty  thousand  children  and  youth 
under  seventeen  years  of  age  yearly  pass  through 
the  prisons  of  England.  "  Many  of  the  juvenile 
prisoners,"  it  is  said,  "  have  been  frequently  in 
prison,  and  are  very  hardened.  Some,  from  nine 
to  eleven,  have  been  in  prison  repeatedly,  and  have 
very  little  fear  of  it." 

The  officers  of  the  Liverpool  Borough  Jail  are 
united  in  the  opinion  that,  when  a  boy  comes  once, 
he  is  almost  certain  to  come  again  and  again,  until 
he  is  transported.  And,  of  every  one  hundred 
young  persons  discharged  from  the  principal  prisons 
of  Paris,  seventy-five  are  in  the  custody  of  the  law 
within  the  next  three  months.  A  professed  thief 
said  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Clay,  of  England,  "I  am  con- 
vinced of  this,  having  too  bitterly  experienced  it, 
that  communication  in  a  prison  has  brought  thou- 
sands to  ruin.  I  speak  not  of  boys  only,  but  of  men 
and  women  also."  And  Mr.  Hill,  Recorder  of  Bir- 
mingham, says  of  the  sentences  imposed  in  his  court, 
"  We  are  compelled  to  carry  into  operation  an  igno- 
rant and  vengeful  system,  which  augments  to  a  fear- 
ful extent  the  very  evils  it  was  framed  to  correct." 
A  few  years  ago,  there  was  a  lad  in  a  New  England 
prison  whoso  experience  is  a  pertinent  illustration 
of  the  evil  we  are  now  considering.  His  father,  a 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       109 

resident  of  a  city,  died  while  the  boy  was  in  infancy. 
He,  however,  soon  passed  beyond  the  control  of  his 
mother,  and  at  an  early  age  was  selected  by  a  brace 
of  thieves,  who  petted,  caressed,  and  humored  him, 
until  he  was  completely  subject  to  their  will.  He 
was  then  made  useful  to  them  in  their  profession  ; 
but  at  last  they  were  all  arrested  while  engaged  in 
robbing  a  store, — the  boy  being  within  the  build- 
ing, and  the  men  stationed  as  sentinels  without.  In 
this  case,  the  discretion  of  the  court,  which  distin- 
guished in  the  sentence  between  the  hardened  vil- 
lains and  the  youth,  was  inadequate  to  the  emer- 
gency. The  child,  unfit  for  the  prison,  and  sure  to 
be  contaminated  by  it,  ought  to  have  been  sent  to  a 
house  of  reformation,  a  reform  school,  or,  perhaps 
better  than  either,  to  the  custody  of  a  well-regu- 
lated, industrious  family.  Now,  in  such  cases,  the 
distinction  which  the  law,  judicially  administered, 
does  not  make,  and  cannot  make,  must  be  made  by 
the  executive  in  the  wise  exercise  of  the  pardoning 
power.  But  this  power,  in  the  nature  of  things,  has 
its  limits  ;  and  on  one  side  it  is  limited  to  those  who 
have  been  convicted  of  crime. 

At  this  point,  we  may  see  how  faulty,  and  yet 
how  constantly  improving,  has  been  the  administra- 
tion of  the  criminal  law.     First,  we  have  the  prison 
without  the  pardoning  power,  except  in  cases  of 
10 


110       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

mal-administration  of  the  law,  —  a  receptacle  of  the 
bad  and  good,  where  the  former  are  not  improved, 
and  the  latter  are  hurried  rapidly  on  in  the  path  of 
degradation  and  crime.  Then  we  have  the  prison 
under  the  influence  of  the  pardoning  power,  more  or 
less  wisely  administered,  but,  in  its  best  form,  able 
only  to  arrest  and  counteract  partially  the  tenden- 
cies to  evil.  Next,  from  the  imperfections  of  this 
system  an  advancing  civilization  has  evoked  the 
Reform  School,  which  gathers  in  the  young  crimi- 
nals and  viciously  inclined  youth,  and  prepares 
them,  by  labor,  and  culture  of  the  mind  and  heart, 
to  resist  the  temptations  of  life.  But  this  institu- 
tion seems  to  wait,  though  it  may  not  always  in 
reality  do  so,  until  the  candidate  is  actually  a 
criminal. 

Hence  the  necessity  which  calls  us  to-day  to  con- 
sider the  means  adopted  elsewhere,  and  the  means 
now  to  be  employed  here,  to  save  the  young  and 
exposed  from  the  dangers  which  surround  them. 

Passing,  then,  in  review,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the 
thoughts  which  have  been  presented,  I  deduce  from 
them  for  your  assent  and  support,  if  so  it  please  you, 
the  following  propositions  as  the  basis  of  what  I  have 
yet  to  say  : 

I.  Government,  in  the  prevention  and  punishment 
of  crime,  should  be  paternal. 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       Ill 

II.  The  object  of  punishment  should  be  reforma- 
tion, and  not  revenge. 

III.  The  law  of  reformation  in  the  state.,  as  in  the 
family,  is  the  law  of  kindness. 

IV.  As  criminals  vary  in  age  and  in  experience  as 
criminals,  so  should  their  treatment  vary. 

Y.  Prisons  and  jails  are  not,  in  their  foundation 
and  management,  reformatory  institutions,  and  only 
become  so  through  influences  not  necessarily  nor 
ordinarily  acting  upon  them. 

VI.  As  prisons  and  jails  deter  from  crime  through 
fear  only,  exert  very  little  moral  influence  upon  the 
youth  of  either  sex,  and  fail  in  many  respects  and 
in  a  majority  of  cases  as  reformatory  institutions, 
we  ought  to  avail  ourselves  of  any  new  agency 
which  promises  success. 

Influenced,  as  we  may  reasonably  suppose,  by 
these  or  kindred  sentiments,  and  aided  by  the  no- 
blest exhibitions  of  private  benevolence,  the  state 
has  here  founded  a  school  for  the  prevention  of 
crime.  As  we  have  everywhere  among  us  schools 
whose  leading  object  is  the  development  of  the  intel- 
lect, so  we  now  dedicate  a  school  whose  leading 
object  is  the  development  of  the  affections  as  the 
basis  of  the  cardinal  virtues  of  life. 

The  design  of  this  institution  is  so  well  expressed 


112       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

by  the  trustees,  that  it  is  a  favor  to  us  all  for  me  to 
read  the  first  chapter  of  the  by-laws,  which,  by  the 
consent  of  the  Governor  and  Council,  have  been 
established : 

"  The  intention  of  the  state  government,  and  of 
the  benevolent  individuals  who  have  contributed  to 
the  establishment  of  this  institution,  is  to  secure  a 
home  and  a  school  for  such  girls  as  may  be  presented 
to  the  magistrates  of  the  state,  appointed  for  that 
purpose,  as  vagrants,  perversely  obstinate,  deprived 
of  the  control  and  culture  of  their  natural  guardians, 
or  guilty  of  petty  offences,  and  exposed  to  a  life  of 
crime  and  wretchedness. 

"For  such  young  persons  it  is  proposed  to  pro- 
vide, not  a  prison  for  their  restraint  and  correction, 
but  a  family  school,  where,  under  the  firm  but  kind 
discipline  of  a  judicious  home,  they  shall  be  care- 
fully instructed  in  all  the  branches  of  a  good  educa- 
tion ;  their  moral  affections  be  developed  and  culti- 
vated by  the  example  and  affectionate  care  of  one 
who  shall  hold  the  relation  of  a  mother  to  them  ;  be 
instructed  in  useful  and  appropriate  forms  of  female 
industry  ;  and,  in  short,  be  fitted  to  become  virtuous 
and  happy  members  of  society,  and  to  take  respecta- 
ble positions  in  such  relations  in  life  as  Providence 
shall  hereafter  mark  out  for  them. 

"  It  is  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  the  insti- 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       113 

tution  is  not  to  be  considered  a  place  of  punishment, 
or  its  subjects  as  criminals.  It  is  to  be  an  inviting 
refuge,  into  which  the  exposed  may  be  gathered  to 
be  saved  from  a  course  which  would  inevitably  end 
in  penal  confinement,  irretrievable  ruin,  or  hopeless 
degradation. 

"  The  inmates  are  to  be  considered  hopeful  and 
promising  subjects  of  appropriate  culture,  and  to  be 
instructed  and  watched  over  with  the  care  and  kind- 
ness which  their  peculiar  exposures  demand,  and 
with  the  confidence  which  youth  should  ever  inspire. 

"  The  restraint  and  the  discipline  which  will  be 
necessary  are  to  be  such  as  would  be  appropriate  in 
a  Christian  family  or  in  a  small  boarding-school ;  and 
the  '  law  of  kindness  7  should  be  written  upon  the 
heart  of  every  officer  of  the  institution.  The  chief 
end  to  be  obtained,  in  all  the  culture  and  discipline, 
is  the  proper  development  of  the  faculties  and  moral 
affections  of  the  inmates,  however  they  may  have 
been  heretofore  neglected  or  perverted  ;  and  to 
teach  them  the  art,  and  aid  them  in  securing  the 
power,  of  self-government.77 

Under  the  influence  of  these  sentiments,  we  pass, 
if  possible,  in  the  work  of  reformation,  from  the  rigor 
of  the  prison  to  the  innocent  excitement  and  rivalry 
of  the  school,  the  comfort,  confidence  and  joys  of 
home.  This  institution  assumes  that  crime,  to  some 
10* 


114       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

extent  at  least,  is  social,  local,  or  hereditary,  in  its 
origin  ;  that  the  career  of  hardened  criminals  often 
takes  its  rise  in  poverty,  idleness,  ignorance,  orphan- 
age, desertion,  or  intemperance  of  parents,  evil  ex- 
ample, or  the  indifference,  scorn  and  neglect  of 
society.  It  assumes,  also,  that  there  is  a  period  of 
life  —  childhood  and  youth — when  these,  the  first 
indications  of  moral  death,  may  be  eradicated,  or 
their  influence  for  evil  controlled.  In  this  land  of 
education,  of  liberty,  of  law,  of  labor  and  religion, 
we  may  not  easily  imagine  how  universal  the  enu- 
merated evils  are  in  many  portions  of  Europe.  The 
existence  of  these  evils  is  in  some  degree  owing 
to  institutions  which  favor  a  few,  and  oppress  the 
masses  ;  but  it  is  also  in  a  measure  due  to  the  fact 
that  Europe  is  both  old  and  multitudinous.  Amer- 
ica, though  still  young,  is  even  now  multitudinous. 
Hence,  both  here  and  there,  crime  is  social  and  local. 
The  truth  of  this  statement  is  proportionate  to  the 
force  of  the  causes  in  the  respective  countries. 

We  arc  assembled  upon  a  sloping  hillside,  over- 
looking a  quiet  country  village.  Happy  homes  arc 
embowered  in  living  groves,  whose  summer  foliage 
is  emblematical  of  innocence,  progress,  and  peace. 
We  have  here  a  social  life,  with  natural  impulses, 
cultivated  worldly  interests,  moral  and  religious 
sentiments,  all  on  the  side  of  virtue.  Crime  here  is 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       115 

not  social.  If  it  appear  at  all,  it  is  segregated  ;  and, 
as  the  burning  taper  expires  when  placed  at  the 
centre  of  the  spirit  lamp's  coiling  sheet  of  flame,  so 
vice  and  crime  cannot  thrive  in  the  genial  embrace 
of  virtue. 

Circumstances  are  here  unfavorable  to  crime  ;  it  is 
never  social  ;  but  sometimes,  though  not  often,  it  is 
hereditary.  A  family  for  many  generations  seems  to 
have  a  criminal  tendency.  Perhaps  the  members  are 
not  in  any  generation  guilty  of  great  crimes,  but 
often  of  lesser  ones  ;  and  are,  moreover,  in  the  daily 
practice  of  vices  that  give  rise  to  suspicion,  neglect, 
and  reproach.  Here  together  are  associated,  and 
made  hereditary,  poverty,  ignorance,  idleness,  beg- 
gary, and  vagrancy.  Surely  these  instances  are  not 
common,  probably  not  so  common  as  they  were  in 
the  last  generation.  But  how  is  the  boy  or  girl  of 
such  a  family  to  rise  above  these  circumstances,  and 
throw  off  these  weights  ?  Occasionally  one  of  great 
energy  of  character  may  do  so  ;  but,  if  the  children 
of  more  fortunate  classes  can  scarcely  escape  the 
influence  of  temporary  evil  example,  how  shall  they 
who  are  born  to  a  heritage  of  poverty,  ignorance, 
and  ever-present  evil  counsel  and  conduct  under  the 
guise  of  parental  authority,  pass  to  the  position  of 
intelligent,  industrious,  respectable  members  of  so- 
ciety ?  Some  external  influence  must  be  applied  ; 


116       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

by  some  means  from  without,  the  spell  must  be 
broken  ;  the  fatal  succession  of  vicious  homes  must 
be  interrupted.  The  family  has  here  failed  to  dis- 
charge its  duty  to  itself  and  to  the  state  ;  and  shall 
not  the  state  do  its  duty  to  itself,  by  assuming 
the  paternal  relation  under  the  guidance  of  that 
law  of  kindness,  which  we  have  seen  effectual  to 
control  the  insane,  and  melt  the  hardened  criminal  ? 
But  in  cities  we  find  vice,  not  only  hereditary  in 
families,  but  local  and  social ;  so  that  streets  and 
squares  are  given  up,  as  it  were,  to  the  idle  and 
vicious,  whose  numbers  and  influence  produce  and 
perpetuate  a  public  sentiment  in  support  of  their 
daily  practices.  This  phase  of  life  is  not  due  to  the 
fact  that  cities  are  wealthy,  or  that  they  are  engaged 
in  manufactures  or  commerce  ;  but  to  the  single  fact 
that  they  are  multitudinous,  and  their  inhabitants 
are,  therefore,  in  daily  contact  with  each  other, 
while,  in  the  country,  individuals  and  families  are 
comparatively  isolated.  Yet  some  may  very  well 
doubt  whether  such  an  institution  as  this,  with  all 
the  benign  influences  of  home  which  we  hope  to  see 
centred  and  diffusive  here,  will  save  a  child  of  either 
sex,  whose  first  years  shall  have  been  so  unfavorable 
to  a  life  of  virtue. 

The  answer  is  plain :  as  in  other  reformatory  insti- 
tutions, there  will  be  some  successes  and  some  fail- 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       117 

ures.     The  failures  will  be  reckoned  as  they  were  ; 
the  successes  will  be  a  clear  gain. 

But  investigation  and  trial  will  show  a  natural 
aptitude  or  instinct  in  children  that  will  aid  in  their 
improvement  and  reformation.  There  has  been  in 
one  of  our  public  schools  a  lad,  who,  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  years,  could  not  recall  distinctly  the  circum- 
stances of  his  life  previous  to  the  time  when  he  was 
a  newsboy  in  the  city  of  New  York.  He  was  igno- 
rant of  father,  mother,  kindred,  family  name,  and 
nation.  At  an  early  age,  he  travelled  through  the 
middle,  southern  and  south-western  states,  engaged 
in  selling  papers  and  trash  literature  ;  and,  for  a 
time,  he  was  employed  by  a  showman  to  stand  out- 
side the  tent  and  describe  and  exaggerate  the  attrac- 
tions within.  When  he  was  in  his  fourteenth  year, 
he  accepted  the  offer  of  a  permanent  home  ;  his 
chief  object  being,  as  he  said,  to  obtain  an  educa- 
tion. "  I  have  found/7  said  he,  "that  a  man  cannot 
do  much  in  this  country  unless  he  has  some  learn- 
ing. "  This  truth,  simple,  and  resting  upon  a  low 
view  of  education,  may  yet  be  of  infinite  value  if 
accepted  by  those  who,  even  among  us,  are  advanc- 
ing to  adult  life  without  the  preparation  which  our 
common  schools  are  well  fitted  to  furnish.  And  the 
case  of  this  lad  may  be  yet  further  useful  by  showing 
how  compensation  is  provided  for  evils  and  neglects 


118       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

in  mental  and  moral  relations,  as  well  as  in  the 
physical  and  natural  world.  Though  ignorant  of 
books,  he  was  thoroughly  and  extensively  ac- 
quainted with  things,  and  consequently  made  rapid 
progress  in  the  knowledge  of  signs  ;  for  they  were 
immediately  applied,  and  of  course  remembered.  In 
a  few  months,  he  took  a  respectable  position  among 
lads  of  his  age.  The  world  had  done  for  this  boy 
what  good  schools  do  not  always  accomplish, — 
made  him  familiar  with  things  before  he  was  troubled 
with  the  signs  which  stand  for  them.  There  is  an 
ignorance  in  manhood  ;  an  ignorance  under  the  show 
of  profound  learning ;  an  ignorance  for  which  schools, 
academics  and  colleges,  are  often  responsible ;  an 
ignorance  that  neither  schools,  academies  nor  col- 
leges, can  conceal  from  the  humblest  intellects  ;  an 
ignorance  of  life  and  things  as  they  are  within  the 
sphere  of  our  own  observation.  From  this  most 
deplorable  ignorance  this  boy  had  escaped  ;  and 
the  light  of  learning  illumined  his  mind,  as  the 
«un  in  his  daily  return  reveals  anew  those  forms  of 
life,  which,  even  in  an  ungenial  spring  and  early 
summer,  his  rays  had  warmed  into  existence,  and 
nourished  and  cherished  in  their  progress  towards 
perfection. 

And,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  let  us  indulge  the 
hope  that  the  events  of  this  day  and  the  faith  of  this 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       119 

assembly  will  declare  that  it  is  possible  to  save  the 
children  of  orphanage,  intemperance,  neglect,  scorn 
and  ignorance,  from  many  of  the  evils  which  sur- 
round them.  Let  it  not  be  assumed  and  believed 
that  the  task  of  training  and  saving  girls  is  less 
hopeful  than  similar  labors  in  behalf  of  the  other 
sex.  It  has  been  found  true  in  Europe,  and  it  is  a 
prevailing  opinion  in  this  country,  that,  among 
adults,  the  reformation  of  females  is  more  difficult 
than  the  reformation  of  males.  But  an  analysis  of 
this  fact,  assuming  it  to  be  true,  will  unfold  qualities 
of  female  character  that  render  it  peculiarly  easy  to 
shield  and  save  girls  who  are  exposed  to  a  life  of 
crime ;  for,  be  it  remembered,  this  institution  deals 
with  mere  children,  who  are  exposed,  but  not  yet 
lost.  It  differs,  in  this  respect,  from  most  institu- 
tions, although  many  include  this  class  with  others. 
And  it  may  be  well  to  remark,  that  every  reforma- 
tory school  in  Europe,  even  those  altogether  penal, 

—  as  Parkhurst  in  England,  and  Mettray  in  France, 

—  have  had  some  measure  of  success.     Eighty-nine 
per  cent,  of  the  colons,  or  convicts,  at  Mettray,  have 
become  respectable  and  useful  ;  while,  of  the  youth 
sent  to  the  ordinary  jails   and  prisons,  seventy -five 
per  cent,  are  totally  lost.     It  is  not  fair,  therefore, 
to  assume  that  this  attempt  will  fail.     The  degree 
of    success    will    depend    upon    circumstances    and 


120       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

causes,  to  a  great  extent,  within  human  control. 
There  are,  however,  three  elements  of  success,  so 
distinct  that  they  may  well  stand  as  the  appropri- 
ate divisions  of  what  remains  for  consideration. 
They  are  the  right  action  of  the  government ;  the 
faithful  conduct  of  superintendent,  matrons,  and 
assistants  ;  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  the  people  of 
the  state  in  matters  which  do  not  admit  of  legisla- 
tive interference. 

The  act  of  the  Legislature,  though  voluminous  in 
its  details,  contemplates  only  this  :  A  home  for  girls 
between  seven  and  sixteen  years  of  age,  who  are 
found  "  in  circumstances  of  want  and  suffering,  or 
of  neglect,  exposure,  or  abandonment,  or  of  beg- 
gary." The  first  idea  of  Jiome  precludes  the  possi- 
bility of  the  inmates  being  sent  here  as  a  punish- 
ment for  crime  ;  therefore  they  are  neither  adjudged 
nor  actual  criminals,  but  persons  exposed  to  a  vi- 
cious life.  Secondly,  the  idea  of  home  involves  the 
necessity  of  reproducing  the  family  relation,  as  cir- 
cumstances may  permit.  Hence,  the  members  of 
this  institution  are  to  be  divided  into  families ;  and 
over  each  a  matron  will  preside,  who  is  to  be  a  kind, 
affectionate,  discreet  mother  to  the  children. 

And  here,  for  once,  in  Massachusetts,  a  public 
iiiHtitution  has  escaped  the  tyranny  of  bricks  and 
mortar  :  and  we  are  permitted  to  indulge  the  hope, 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       121 

that  any  future  additions  will  tend  to  make  this  spot 
a  neighborhood  of  unostentatious  cottages,  quiet 
rural  homes,  rather  than  the  seat  of  a  vast  edifice, 
which  may  provoke  the  wonder  of  the  sight-seer, 
inflame  local  or  state  pride,  but  can  never  be  an 
effectual,  economical  agency  in  the  work  of  reform- 
ation. Every  public  institution  has  some  great 
object.  Architecture  should  bend  itself  to  that 
object,  and  become  its  servant ;  and  it  must  ever 
be  deemed  a  mistake,  when  utility  is  sacrificed  that 
art  or  fancy  may  have  its  way. 

Reformation,  if  wrought  by  external  influences, 
is  the  result  of  personal  kindness.  Personal  kind- 
ness can  exist  only  where  there  is  intimate  per- 
sonal acquaintance  ;  this  acquaintance  is  impossi- 
ble in  an  institution  of  two,  three,  or  five  hundred 
inmates.  But,  in  a  family  of  ten,  twenty,  or  thirty, 
this  knowledge  will  exist,  and  this  kindness  abound. 
Warm  personal  attachments  will  grow  up  in  the 
family,  and  these  attachments  are  likely  to  become 
safeguards  of  virtue. 

Nor  let  the  objection  prevail  that  the  expense  is 
to  be  increased.  It  is  not  the  purpose  to  set  up  an 
establishment  and  maintain  it  for  a  specific  sum  of 
money,  but  to  provide  thorough  mental  and  moral 
training  for  the  inmates.  Make  the  work  efficient, 
11 


122       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

though  it  be  limited  to  a  small  number,  rather  than 
inaugurate  a  magnificent  failure. 

The  state  has  wisely  provided  that  the  "  trustees 
shall  cause  the  girls  under  their  charge  to  be  in- 
structed in  piety  and  morality,  and  in  such  branches 
of  useful  knowledge  as  shall  be  adapted  to  their  age 
and  capacity ;  they  shall  also  be  instructed  in  some 
regular  course  of  labor,  either  mechanical,  manufac- 
turing, or  horticultural,  or  a  combination  of  these, 
and  especially  in  such  domestic  and  household  labor 
and  duties  as  shall  be  best  suited  to  their  age  and 
strength,  disposition  and  capacity  ;  also  in  such 
other  arts,  trades,  and  employments,  as  may  seem 
to  the  trustees  best  adapted  to  secure  their  reforma- 
tion, amendment,  and  future  benefit." 

It  is  sometimes  the  bane  of  the  poor  that  they  do 
not  work,  and  it  is  often  equally  the  bane  of  the  rich 
that  they  have  nothing  to  do.  The  idle,  both  rich 
and  poor,  carry  a  weight  of  reproach  that  not  all 
ought  to  bear.  The  disposition  and  the  ability  to 
labor  are  both  the  result  of  education  ;  and  why 
should  the  uneducated  be  better  able  to  labor  than 
to  read  Greek  and  Latin  ?  Surely  only  that  there 
are  more  teachers  in  one  department  than  in  the 
others ;  but  a  good  teacher  of  labor  may  be  as 
uncommon  as  a  good  teacher  of  Latin  or  Greek. 
There  is  a  false,  vicious,  unmanly  pride,  which  leads 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       123 

our  youth  of  both  sexes  to  shun  labor  ;  and  it  is  the 
business  of  the  true  teacher  to  extirpate  this  growth 
of  a  diseased  civilization.  And  we  could  have  no 
faith  in  this  school,  if  it  were  not  a  school  of  industry 
as  well  as  of  morality,  —  a  school  in  which  the  divine 
law  of  labor  is  to  be  observed  equally  with  the  laws 
of  men.  Industry  is  near  to  all  the  virtues.  In  this 
era  every  branch  of  labor  is  an  art,  and  sometimes 
it  is  necessary  for  the  laborer  to  be  both  an  artist 
and  a  scientific  person.  How  great,  then,  the  mis- 
fortune of  those,  whether  rich  or  poor,  who  are  unin- 
structed  in  the  business  of  life  !  We  should  hardly 
know  what  judgment  to  pass  upon  a  man  of  wealth 
who  should  entirely  neglect  the  education  of  his 
children  in  schools  ;  but  the  common  indifference  to 
industrial  learning  is  not  less  reprehensible.  Labor 
should  be  systematic ;  not  constant,  indeed,  but 
always  to  be  reckoned  as  the  great  business  of  life, 
never  to  be  avoided,  never  to  cease. 

Labor  gives  us  a  better  knowledge  of  the  fulness, 
magnificence  and  glory,  of  the  divine  blessing  of 
creation.  This  lesson  may  be  learned  by  the  farmer 
in  the  wonderful  growth  of  vegetation ;  by  the  artist, 
in  the  powers  of  invention  and  taste  of  the  human 
mind  and  soul ;  by  the  man  of  science,  in  the  beauty 
of  an  insect  or  the  order  of  a  universe.  The  vision 
of  the  idle  is  limited.  The  ability  to  see  may  be 


124       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

improved  by  education  as  much  as  the  ability  to 
read,  remember,  or  converse.  With  many  people, 
not  seeing  is  a  habit.  Near-sighted  persons  are 
generally  those  who  declined  to  look  at  distant 
objects  ;  and  so  nature,  true  to  the  most  perfect 
rules  of  economy,  refused  to  keep  in  order  faculties 
that  were  entirely  neglected.  The  laborer's  recom- 
pense is  not  money,  nor  the  accumulation  of  worldly 
goods  chiefly ;  but  it  is  in  his  increased  ability  to 
observe,  appreciate,  and  enjoy  the  world,  with  its 
beauties  and  blessings.  Nor  is  labor,  the  penalty 
for  sin,  a  punishment  merely,  but  a  divine  means  of 
reformation.  It  is,  therefore,  a  moral  discipline  that 
all  should  submit  to  ;  and  especially  is  it'  a  means  by 
which  the  youth  here  are  to  be  prepared  for  the 
duties  of  life.  But  industry  is  not  only  near  to  all 
the  virtues ;  it  is  itself  a  virtue,  as  idleness  is  a  vice. 
The  word  labor  is,  of  course,  used  in  the  broadest 
signification.  Labor  is  any  honest  employment,  or 
use  of  the  head  or  hands,  which  brings  good  to  our- 
selves, and  consequently,  though  indirectly,  brings 
good  to  our  fellow-men. 

The  state  has  now  furnished  a  home,  reproduced, 
as  far  as  practicable,  the  family  relation,  and  pro- 
vided for  a  class  of  neglected  and  exposed  girls  the 
means  of  mental,  industrial,  moral,  and  religious 
culture.  The  plan  appears  well ;  but  its  practical 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.      125 

value  depends  upon  the  fidelity  of  its  execution  by 
the  superintendent,  matrons  and  assistants.  I  ven- 
ture to  predict  in  advance,  that  the  degree  of  success 
is  mainly  within  their  control.  This  is  a  school,  they 
are  the  teachers  ;  and  they  must  bend  to  the  rule 
which  all  true  teachers  willingly  accept. 

The  teacher  must  be  what  he  would  have  his 
pupils  become.  This  was  the  standard  of  the  great 
Teacher  ;  this  is  the  aim  of  all  who  desire  to  make 
education  a  matter  of  reality  and  life,  and  not 
merely  a  knowledge  of  signs  and  forms.  Here  will 
be  needed  a  spirit  and  principle  of  devotion  which 
will  be  fruitful  in  humility,  patience,  earnestness, 
energy,  good  words  and  works  for  all.  Here  must 
be  strictness,  possibly  sternness  of  discipline  ;  but 
this  is  not  incompatible  with  the  qualities  men- 
tioned. It  is  a  principle  at  Mettray  to  combine 
unbounded  personal  kindness  with  a  rigid  exclusion 
of  personal  indulgence. 

This  principle  produces  good  results  that  are  two- 
fold in  their  influence.  First,  personal  kindness  in 
the  teacher  induces  a  reciprocal  quality  in  the 
pupils.  The  habit  of  personal  kindness,  proceed- 
ing from  right  feelings,  is  a  potent  element  of  good 
in  the  family,  the  school,  and  the  prison.  Indeed,  it 
is  an  element  of  good  citizenship  ;  and  no  one  desti- 
tute of  this  quality  ought  to  be  intrusted  with  the 
11* 


126      Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

education  of  children,  or  the  punishment  and  reform- 
ation of  criminals. 

Secondly,  the  rigid  exclusion  of  personal  indulg- 
ence trains  the  inmates  in  the  virtue  of  self-control. 
And  may  it  not  be  forgotten  that  all  apparent 
reformation  must  be  hedged  by  this  cardinal  virtue 
of  practical  life  I  Otherwise  the  best-formed  expect- 
ations will  fail ;  the  highest  hopes  will  be  disap- 
pointed ;  and  the  life  of  these  teachers,  and  the 
promise  of  the  youth  who  may  be  gathered  here, 
will  be  like  the  sun  and  the  winds  upon  the  desert, 
which  bring  neither  refreshing  showers  nor  fruitful 
harvests.  Every  form  of  labor  requires  faith.  This 
labor  icquires  faith  in  yourselves,  and  faith  in 
others  ;  —  faith  in  yourselves,  as  teachers  here, 
based  upon  your  own  knowledge  of  what  you  are 
and  are  to  do  ;  and  faith  in  others  upon  the  divine 
declaration  that  God  breathed  into  man  the  breath 
of  life,  and  he  became  a  living  soul,  — not  merely  as 
the  previous  creations,  possessed  of  animal  life  ;  but 
as  a  sentient,  intellectual,  and  moral  being,  capable 
of  a  progressive,  immortal  existence. 

"  'T  is  nature's  law 

That  none,  the  meanest  of  created  things, 
•  •  •  •  • 

Should  exist 
Divorced  from  good, —  a  spirit  and  pulse  of  good, 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       127 

A  life  and  soul,  to  every  mode  of  being 
Inseparably  linked. 

See,  then,  your  only  conflict  is  with  men  ; 
And  your  sole  strife  is  to  defend  and  teach 
The  unillumined,  who,  without  such  care, 
Must  dwindle." 

And  always,  as  in  the  beginning,  the  reliance  of 
this  school  is  upon  the  people  of  the  commonwealth, 
whose  voice  has  spoken  into  existence  another  in- 
strumentality to  give  eyes  to  the  blind,  ears  to  the 
deaf,  a  heart  for  the  work  of  this  life,  and  a  hope  for 
an  hereafter,  to  those  who  from  neglect  and  vicious 
example  would  soon  pass  the  period  of  reformation. 
But  may  the  people  always  bear  in  mind  the  indis- 
putable truth,  that  schools  for  the  criminal  and  the 
exposed  yield  not  their  perfect  fruits  in  a  day  or  a 
year  !  They  must,  if  they  will  know  whether  the 
seed  here  planted  produces  a  harvest,  wait  for  the 
birth  and  growth  of  one  generation,  the  decay  and 
death  of  another.  Yet  these  years  of  delay  will  not 
be  years  of  uncertainty.  The  public  faith  will  be 
strengthened  continually  by  cases  of  reformation, 
usefulness,  and  virtue.  But,  whether  these  cases 
be  few  or  many,  let  no  one  despond.  The  career 
of  the  criminal  is,  often  in  money  and  always  in 
influence,  the  heaviest  burden  which  an  individual 
can  impose  upon  society. 


128       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

This  is  a  school  for  girls  ;  and  we  may  properly 
appeal  to  the  women  of  Massachusetts  to  do  their 
duty  to  this  institution,  and  to  the  cause  it  repre- 
sents. We  can  already  see  the  second  stage  in  the 
existence  of  many  of  those  who  are  to  be  sent  here  ; 
and  there  is  good  reason  to  fear  that  the  relation  of 
mistress  and  servant  among  us  is  in  some  degree 
destitute  of  those  moral  qualities  that  make  the 
house  a  home  for  all  who  dwell  beneath  its  roof. 
But,  whether  this  fear  be  the  voice  of  truth  or  the 
suggestion  of  prejudice,  that  woman  shall  not  be 
held  blameless,  who,  under  the  influence  of  indo- 
lence, pride,  fashion,  or  avarice,  shall  neglect,  abuse, 
or  oppress,  the  humblest  of  her  sex  who  goes  forth 
from  these  walls  into  the  broad  and  dangerous  path 
of  life.  But  this  day  shall  not  leave  the  impression 
that  they  who  are  most  interested  in  the  elevation 
and  refinement  of  female  character  are  indifferent  to 
the  means  employed,  and  the  results  which  are  to 
wait  on  them. 

The  greatest  delineator  of  human  character  in  this 
age  says,  as  the  images  of  neglected  children  pass 
before  his  vision  : 

"There  is  not  one  of  them  —  not  one  — but  sows 
a  harvest  mankind  must  reap.  From  every  seed  of 
evil  in  this  boy  a  field  of  ruin  is  grown  that  shall  be 
gathered  in,  and  garnered  up,  and  sown  again  in 


Training  of  Exposed  Children.       129 

many  places  in  the  world,  until  regions  are  over- 
spread with  wickedness  enough  to  raise  the  waters 
of  another  deluge.  Open  and  unpunished  murder  in 
a  city's  streets  would  be  less  guilty  in  its  daily  tol- 
eration than  one  such  spectacle  as  this.  There  is 
not  a  father,  by  whose  side,  in  his  daily  or  nightly 
walk,  these  creatures  pass  ;  there  is  not  a  mother 
among  all  the  ranks  of  loving  mothers  in  this  land  ; 
there  is  no  one  risen  from  the  state  of  childhood,  but 
shall  be  responsible,  in  his  or  her  degree,  for  this 
enormity.  There  is  not  a  country  throughout  the 
earth  on  which  it  would  not  bring  a  curse.  There 
is  no  religion  upon  earth  that  it  would  not  deny  ; 
there  is  no  people  on  earth  that  it  would  not  put  to 
shame." 

This  institution,  then,  in  the  true  relation  of 
things,  is  not  the  glory  of  the  state,  but  its  shame. 
It  speaks  of  families,  of  schools,  of  the  church,  of 
the  state,  not  yet  educated  to  the  discharge  of  their 
respective  duties  in  the  right  way.  But  it  is  the 
glory  of  the  state  as  a  visible  effort  to  correct  evils, 
atone  for  neglects,  and  compensate  for  wrongs.  It 
comes  to  do,  in  part  at  least,  what  the  family,  the 
school,  the  press,  the  library,  the  Sabbath,  have 
not  yet  perfectly  accomplished.  As  these  agen- 
cies partially  failed,  so  will  this  ;  but,  as  the  law 
of  progress  exists  for  all,  because  perfection  with 


130       Training  of  Exposed  Children. 

us  is  unattainable,  we  may  reasonably  have  faith 
in  human  improvement,  and  trust  that  the  life  of 
each  succeeding  generation  shall  unite,  in  ever- 
increasing  proportions,  the  innocence  of  childhood 
with  the  wisdom  of  age. 


ELEMENTARY  TRAINING  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

[Extract  from  the  Twenty-Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Board  of  Education.] 

WE  are  still  sadly  defective  in  methods  of  educa- 
tion. Until  recently  teaching  was  almost  an  unknown 
art ;  and  we  are  at  present  struggling  against  igno- 
rance without  any  well-defined  plan,  and  attempting 
to  develop  and  build  up  the  immortal  character  of 
children,  without  a  philosophical  and  generally  ac- 
cepted theory  of  the  nature  of  the  human  mind. 
There  are  complaints  that  the  duties  and  exactions 
of  the  schools  injure  the  health  and  impair  the  con- 
stitutions of  pupils  ;  that  the  progress  in  intellectual 
attainments  is  not  always  what  it  should  be  ;  that 
the  training  given  is  sometimes  determined  by  the 
wishes  of  committees  against  the  better  judgment 
of  competent  teachers ;  that  the  text-books  are 
defective  ;  that  the  studies  in  the  common  schools 
are  too  numerous  ;  that  the  elements  are  conse- 
quently neglected  ;  and  that,  in  fine,  too  much 
thought  is  bestowed  upon  exhibitions  and  contests 
for  public  prizes,  to  the  injury  of  good  learning, 

(131) 


132  Elementary  Education. 

and  of  individual  and  general  character.  For  these 
complaints  there  is  some  foundation ;  but  care 
should  be  exercised  lest  incidental  and  necessary 
evils  become,  in  the  public  estimation,  great  wrongs, 
and  exceptional  cases  the  evidence  of  general 
facts. 

It  is  to  some  extent  true  that  the  duties  and 
exactions  of  the  schools  seriously  test  the  health  of 
pupils  ;  but  it  is,  as  I  believe,  more  generally  true 
that  many  pupils  are  physically  unable  to  meet  the 
ordinary  and  proper  duties  of  the  school-room. 
School  life,  as  usually  conducted,  is  physically  inju- 
rious, and  our  best  efforts  thus  far  have  been  limited 
to  the  dissemination  of  elementary  knowledge  of 
physiology  as  a  science,  and  to  an  acquaintance 
with  a  limited  number  of  important  physiological 
facts.  Yet  even  here  little  has  been  accomplished 
in  comparison  with  what  may  be  done.  In  this 
department  there  is  much  instruction  given  that 
has  no  practical  value,  and  children  are  often  per- 
mitted to  live  in  daily  and  uniform  neglect  of  the 
most  essential  truths  of  science  and  the  facts  of 
human  experience.  Neither  physiology  nor  hygiene 
can  be  of  much  value  in  the  schools,  as  a  study,  unless 
there  is  an  application  of  what  is  taught.  Great  pro- 
ficiency cannot  be  made  in. these  branches  iu  the 
brief  period  of  school  life  ;  but  a  competent  teacher 


Elementary  Education.  133 

may  induce  the  pupils  to  put  in  practice  the  lessons 
that  are  applicable  to  childhood  and  youth.  If, 
however,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  pupils  are 
undermining  the  physical  constitution  in  their  efforts 
to  know  how  they  are  made,  the  loss  is,  unquestion- 
ably, more  than  the  gain.  Physical  health  and 
growth  depend,  first,  upon  opportunity ;  and  hence 
it  happens  that,  where  physical  life  is  most  defective, 
there  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  way  of  its  im- 
provement are  found.  Boys,  born  in  the  country, 
living  upon  farms,  accustomed  continually  to  out- 
door labors  and  sports,  walking  a  mile  or  more  every 
day  to  school,  have  but  little  use,  in  their  own  per- 
sons, for  the  science  or  facts  of  physiology  ;  and  it 
is  a  very  rare  thing,  where  such  conditions  have  ex- 
isted, that  any  teacher  is  able  to  exact  an  amount  of 
intellectual  service  that  proves  in  any  perceptible 
degree  injurious. 

But  these  opportunities  are  not  so  generally  enjoyed 
by  girls,  and  the  mass  of  children  in  cities  are  wholly 
deprived  of  them.  In  the  country,  and  even  in  vil- 
lages and  towns  of  considerable  size,  there  is  no 
excuse,  better  than  ignorance  or  indifference,  for  the 
lack  of  judicious  and  efficient  physical  training  of 
children  and  youth  of  both  sexes.  But  ignorance 
and  indifference  are  facts  ;  and,  while  and  where 
they  exist,  they  are  prejudicial  to  the  growth  of 
12 


134  Elementary  Education.  . 

mind  and  body.  The  age  at  which  children  should 
be  admitted  to  school  has  not  been  ascertained,  nor 
can  a  satisfactory  rule  upon  this  point  ever  be  laid 
down.  If  children  are  not  in  schools,  they  are  yet 
subject  to  influences  that  are  formative  of  character. 
When  proper  government  and  methods  of  education 
exist  at  home,  the  presence  of  the  child  in  school  at 
an  early  age  is  not  desirable.  Even  when  education 
at  home  is  not  methodical,  it  may  be  continued  until 
the  child  is  seven  or  even  eight  years  of  age,  if  it  is  at 
once  moral,  intelligent,  and  controlling.  It  is  not, 
however,  wise  to  expect  a  child  who  is  infirm  physi- 
cally to  perform  the  labors  imposed  by  the  necessary 
and  proper  regulations  of  school.  When  children 
enjoy  good  health,  and  are  not  blessed  with  suitable 
training  at  home,  they  may  be  introduced  to  the 
school,  at  the  age  of  five  years,  with  positive  ad- 
vantage to  themselves  and  to  society. 

When  the  child  is  a  member  of  the  school,  what 
shall  be  done  with  him  ?  He  must  first  be  taught  to 
take  an  interest  in  the  exercises  by  making  the  exer- 
cises interesting  to  him.  That  the  transition  from 
home  to  the  school  may  be  easy,  he  should  first 
occupy  himself  with  those  topics  and  studies  that 
are  presented  to  the  eye  and  to  the  ear,  and  may  be 
mastered,  so  as  to  produce  the  sensation  that  follows 
achievement  with  only  a  moderate  use  of  the  reason- 


Elementary  Education.  135 

ing  and  reflective  faculties.  Among  these  are  read- 
ing, writing,  music,  and  drawing.  This  is  also  the 
time  when  object  lessons  may  be  given  with  great 
advantage.  The  forms  and  names  of  geometrical 
solids  may  be  taught.  Exercises  may  be  introduced 
tending  to  develop  those  powers  by  which  we  com- 
prehend the  qualities  of  color,  size,  density,  form, 
and  weight.  Important  moral  truths  may  be  pre- 
sented with  the  aid  of  suitable  illustrations.  In  every 
school  the  teacher  and  text-books  may  be  considered 
a  positive  quality  which  should  balance  the  nega- 
tive power  of  the  school  itself.  In  primary  schools 
text-books  have  but  little  value,  and  the  chief  reli- 
ance is,  therefore,  upon  the  teacher.  Instruction 
must  be  mainly  oral ;  hence  th.e  mind  of  the  teacher 
should  be  well  furnished,  and  her  capacities  chas- 
tened by  considerable  experience.  As  the  pupils  are 
unable  to  study,  the  teacher  must  lead  in  all  their 
exercises,  and  find  profitable  employment  for  the 
children,  or  they  will  give  themselves  up  to  play  or 
to  stupid  listlessness.  Of  these  alternatives,  the  lat- 
ter is  more  objectionable  than  the  former. 

It  is,  of  course,  not  often  possible  for  a  teacher  to 
occupy  herself  six  hours  a  day  with  a  single  class  in 
a  primary  school,  especially  if  she  confines  her  atten- 
tion to  the  studies  enumerated.  In  many  schools,  of 
various  grades,  gymnastic  exercises  have  been  intro- 


136  Elementary  Education. 

duced  with  marked  advantage.  There  are  many 
such  exercises  which  do  not  need  apparatus,  and  in 
which  the  teacher  can  properly  lead. 

These  furnish  a  healthful  variety  to  the  studies  usu- 
ally pursued,  and  they  prepare  the  pupils  to  receive 
appropriate  instruction  in  sitting,  standing,  and  in  the 
modulation  and  use  of  the  voice.  Indeed,  gymnastic 
exercises  are  indispensable  aids  to  proper  training  in 
reading,  which,  as  an  art  of  a  high  order,  is  imme- 
diately dependent  upon  position,  habits  of  breathing, 
the  consequent  power  of  voice,  and  expressiveness 
of  tone.  I  am  fully  satisfied  that  much  more  may 
be  done  in  the  early  period  of  school  life  than  is 
usually  accomplished.  In  the  district  mixed  schools 
the  primary  pupils  receive  but  little  attention,  and 
they  are  not  infrequently  occupied  from  one  to  three 
years  in  obtaining  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
alphabet.  Usually  much  better  results  are  attained 
by  the  combined  agency  of  the  home  and  the  school, 
but  there  is  an  average  loss  of  one-fourth  of  the  timo 
employed  in  teaching  and  learning  the  elements  of 
our  language. 

Mr.  Philbrick,  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  in 
Boston,  has  taught  and  trained  a  class  of  fifty  pri- 
mary-school pupils  with  a  degree  of  success  which 
fully  sustains  the  statement  of  the  average  waste  in 
schools  generally.  Twenty-two  lessons  of  a  half- 


Elementary  Education.  137 

hour  each  were  given  ;  and  in  this  brief  period  of 
time  the  class,  with  a  few  exceptions,  were  so  well 
advanced  that  they  could  write  the  alphabet  in  cap- 
ital and  script  hand,  give  the  elementary  sounds  of 
the  letters,  produce  and  name  the  Arabic  characters 
and  the  common  geometrical  figures  found  upon 
Holbrook's  slates.  I  saw  a  girl,  five  and  a  half 
years  of  age,  write  the  alphabet  without  delay  in 
script  hand,  in  a  manner  that  would  have  been  cred- 
itable to  a  pupil  in  a  grammar  school. 

I  present  Mr.  Philbrick's  own  account  of  his  mode 
of  proceeding,  in  an  extract  from  his  third  quarterly 
report  to  the  school  committee  of  the  city  of  Boston. 

"  The  regulations  relating  to  the  primary  schools 
require  every  scholar  to  be  provided  with  a  slate, 
and  to  employ  the  time  not  otherwise  occupied  in 
drawing  or  writing  words  from  their  spelling  les- 
sons, on  their  slates,  in  a  plain  script  hand.  It  is 
further  stated,  in  the  same  connection,  that  the 
teachers  are  expected  to  take  special  pains  to  teach 
the  first  class  to  write  —  not  print  —  all  the  letters 
of  the  alphabet  on  slates. 

"  The  language  of  this  requirement  seems  to 
imply  that  the  classes  below  the  first  are  to  draw 
and  write  words,  in  a  plain  script  hand,  without  any 
special  pains  to  teach  them,  and  that  by  such  occu- 
pation they  were  to  be  kept  from  idleness.  As  I 
12* 


138  Elementary  Education. 

saw  neither  of  these  objects  accomplished  in  any 
primary  school,  I  thought  it  worth  while  to  satisfy 
myself,  by  actual  experiment,  what  can  and  ought 
to  be  done,  in  the  use  of  the  slate  and  blackboard, 
in  teaching  writing  and  drawing  in  primary  schools. 
To  accomplish  this  object,  I  have  given  a  course  of 
lessons  in  a  graded  or  classified  school  of  the  third 
class.  The  number  of  pupils  instructed  in  the  class 
was  about  fifty.  The  materials  of  the  school  are 
rather  below  the  average  ;  about  twenty  of  the 
pupils  being  of  that  description  usually  found  in 
schools  for  special  instruction.  The  school-room  is 
furnished,  as  every  primary  school-room  should  be, 
with  stationary  chairs  and  desks,  and  Holbrook's 
primary  slates.  Twenty-two  lessons,  of  from  thirty 
to  forty  minutes  each,  were  given,  about  one-third 
of  the  time  being  devoted  to  drawing,  and  two-thirds 
to  writing.  As  to  the  method  pursued,  the  main 
points  were,  to  present  but  a  single  element  at  a 
time  ;  to  illustrate  on  the  blackboard  defects  and 
excellences  in  execution  ;  frequent  review  of  the 
ground  passed  over,  especially  in  the  first  steps  of 
•the  course ;  a  vigorous  exercise  of  all  the  mental 
faculties  requisite  for  the  performance  of  the  task ; 
and  a  desire  for  improvement,  encouraged  and  stim- 
ulated by  the  best  and  strongest  available  motives  ; 


Elementary  Education.  139 

the  greater  part  of  the  time  being  bestowed  upon 
the  dull  and  backward  pupils. 

"  The  result  has  exceeded  my  expectations.  About 
three-fourths  of  the  number  taught  can  draw  most 
of  the  simple  mathematical  lines  and  figures,  given 
as  copies  on  the  slates  used,  with  tolerable  accuracy, 
and  write  all  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  in  a  fair  script 
hand.  This  experiment  satisfies  me  that,  with  the 
proper  facilities,  the  three  upper  classes  in  graded 
primary  schools  can  be  taught  to  write  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet  in  a  plain  script  hand,  and  even  to  join 
them  into  words,  without  any  material  hindrance  to 
the  other  required  studies  ;  and,  moreover,  that  the 
great  remedy  for  the  complaint  of  want  of  time,  in 
these  schools,  is  the  increase  of  skill  in  the  art  of 
teaching." 

It  is  well  known  that  in  this  country  and  in  Europe 
methods  of  teaching  the  alphabet  have  been  intro- 
duced which  materially  diminish  the  labor  of  teach- 
ers, and  lessen  the  drudgery  to  which  children  are 
usually  subjected.  The  alphabet  is  taught  as  an 
object  lesson.  The  object  is  usually  an  animal,  plant, 
or  flower.  More  frequently  the  first.  The  mind  of 
the  child  is  awakened  either  by  the  presence  of  the 
animal,  or  by  a  brief  but  vivid  description  of  its 
characteristics.  The  children  are  first  required  to 
pronounce  properly  the  name  of  the  animal.  Here 


140  Elementary  Education. 

is  an  opportunity  for  training  in  the  use  of  the  voice, 
and  in  the  art  of  breathing,  with  which  the  general 
health,  as  well  as  the  vocal  power,  is  intimately 
connected.  The  word  which  is  the  name  of  the 
animal  is  analyzed  into  its  elementary  sounds.  It 
may  then  be  reconstructed  without  the  aid  of  visible 
signs,  either  written  or  printed.  Next  the  teacher 
produces  the  signs  which  stand  for  the  several 
sounds,  and  gives  their  names.  The  letters  are 
presented  in  any  way  that  suits  the  teacher.  There 
may  be  no  better  method  than  to  produce  them  upon 
the  blackboard,  as  this  course  encourages  the  pupils 
to  draw  them  upon  their  slates,  and  thus  they  are  at 
once,  and  without  formal  preliminaries,  engaged  in 
writing. 

An  outline  of  the  animal  may  be  drawn  upon  the 
blackboard,  which  the  pupils  will  eagerly  copy;  and 
though  this  exercise  may  not  be  valuable  in  a  high 
degree,  as  preparation  for  the  systematic  study  of 
drawing,  yet  it  trains  the  perceptive  and  reflective 
faculties  in  a  manner  that  is  pleasant  to  the  great 
majority  of  children.  It  is  also  in  the  power  of  the 
teacher,  at  any  point  in  the  exercises,  and  with 
reference  both  to  variety  and  usefulness,  to  give  the 
most  apparent  facts,  which  to  children  are  the  most 
interesting  facts,  in  the  natural  history  of  the  animal. 
This  plan  contemplates  instruction  in  pronunciation 


Elementary  Education.  141 

in  connection  with  exercises  in  breathing,  in  the 
elementary  sounds  of  words  both  consonant  and 
vowel,  in  the  names  of  letters,  in  writing  and  draw- 
ing, to  all  of  which  may  be  added  something  of 
natural  history.  It  is  of  course  to  be  understood 
that  such  exercises  would  be  extended  over  many 
lessons,  be  subject  to  frequent  reviews,  and  val- 
uable in  proportion  to  the  teacher's  ability  to 
interest  children.  The  outline  given  is  suggest- 
ive, merely,  and  it  is  not  presented  as  a  plan  of 
a  model  course  ;  but  enough  has  been  done  and 
is  doing  in  this  department  to  warrant  increased 
attention,  and  to  justify  the  belief  that  a  degree  of 
progress  will  soon  be  made  in  teaching  the  elements 
that  will  mark  the  epoch  as  a  revolution  in  educa- 
tional affairs.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  system 
indicated  requires  a  high  order  of  teaching  talent. 
Only  thorough  professional  culture,  or  long  and 
careful  experience,  will  meet  the  claims  of  such  a 
course.  It  is  quite  plain,  however,  that  no  advan- 
tage would  arise  from  keeping  pupils  in  school  six 
hours  each  day  ;  and  that,  regarding  only  the  intel- 
lectual advancement  of  the  child  during  the  element- 
ary course,  his  presence  might  be  reduced  to  two 
hours,  or  possibly  in  some  cases-  to  one  :  provided, 
always,  that  he  could  enjoy,  with  his  class  asso- 
ciates, the  undivided  attention  of  the  teacher.  In 


142  Elementary  Education. 

this  view  of  the  subject,  it  would  be  possible, 
where  the  primary  schools  are  graded,  as  in  por- 
tions of  the  city  of  Boston,  for  one  teacher  to 
take  charge  of  two  classes  or  schools,  each  for  an 
hour  in  the  forenoon  and  an  hour  in  the  afternoon. 
This  arrangement  would  apply  only  to  the  younger 
pupils ;  yet  I  am  aware  that  parents  and  the  public 
would  be  solicitous  concerning  the  manner  of  em- 
ploying the  time  that  would  remain.  In  the  cities 
this  question  is  one  of  magnitude,  and  there  are 
strong  reasons  for  declining  any  proposition  to 
reduce  the  school  day  full  one-half,  which  does  not 
provide  occupation  for  the  children  during  the 
remainder  of  the  time.  It  is  only  in  connection 
with  such  a  proposition  that  projects  for  gymnastic 
training  are  practicable.  When  children  are  em- 
ployed six  hours  in  school,  it  is  not  easy  to  find  time 
for  a  course  of  systematic  physical  education ;  and 
physical  education,  to  be  productive  of  appreciable 
advantages,  must  be  systematic.  When  left  to 
children  and  youth,  or  to  the  care  of  parents,  very 
little  will  be  accomplished.  Children  will  participate 
in  the  customary  sports,  and  perform  the  allotted 
labors  ;  but  in  cities  these  sports  and  labors  are 
inadequate  even  for  boys,  and  in  country,  as  well  as 
city,  girls  are  often  the  victims  of  neglect  in  this 
respect.  Availing  ourselves,  then,  of  the  light 


Elementary  Education.  143 

shed  by  recent  experience  upon  the  subject  of 
primary  instruction,  it  seems  possible  to  dimin- 
ish the  length  of  the  school  day  with  a  gain  rather 
than  a  loss  of  educational  power.  This  change 
may  be  followed  by  the  establishment,  in  cities 
and  large  towns,  of  public  gymnasiums,  where 
teachers  answering  in  moral  qualifications  to  the 
requisitions  of  the  laws  shall  be  employed,  and 
where  each  child,  for  one,  two,  or  three  years,  shall 
receive  discreet  and  careful,  but  vigorous  physical 
training.  After  a  few  years  thus  passed  in  corres- 
ponding and  healthful  development  of  the  mind  and 
body,  the  pupil  is  prepared  for  admission  to  the 
advanced  schools,  where  he  can  submit,  with  perfect 
safety,  to  greater  mental  requirements  even  than  are 
now  made.  The  school,  as  at  present  constituted, 
cannot  do  much  for  physical  education  ;  and  it  must, 
as  a  necessity  and  a  duty,  graduate  its  demands  to 
the  physical  as  well  as  the  intellectual  abilities  of 
its  pupils.  But  I  am  satisfied  that  it  is  occasionally 
made  to  bear  a  weight  of  reproach  that  ought  to  be 
laid  upon  the  customs  and  habits  of  domestic,  social 
and  general  life. 

Assuming  that  the  principal  work  of  the  primary 
schools,  after  moral  and  physical  culture,  should  be 
to  give  instruction  in  reading,  spelling,  writing, 
music  and  drawing,  it  is  just  to  say  that  special 


144  Elementary  Education. 

attention  should  be  bestowed  upon  the  two  branches 
first  named.  So  imperfectly  is  reading  sometimes 
taught,  that  pupils  are  found  in  advanced  classes, 
and  in  advanced  schools,  whose  progress  in  other 
branches  is  retarded  by  their  inability  to  read  the 
language  fluently  and  intelligently.  When  children 
are  well  educated  in  reading,  they  find  profitable 
employment ;  and  they  are,  of  course,  by  the  knowl- 
edge of  language  acquired,  able  to  comprehend, 
with  greater  facility,  every  study  to  which  they  are 
called. 

Pupils  often  appear  dull  in  grammar,  geography 
and  arithmetic,  merely  because  they  are  poor  readers. 
A  child  is  not  qualified  to  use  a  text-book  of  any 
science  until  he  is  able  to  read  with  facility,  as  we 
are  accustomed  to  speak,  in  groups  of  words.  This 
ability  he  cannot  acquire  without  a  great  deal  of 
practice.  If  phonetic  spelling  is  commenced  with 
the  alphabet,  he  will  be  accurately  trained  in  that 
art  also.  It  is  certain  that  reading,  writing  and 
spelling,  have  been  neglected  in  our  schools  gen- 
erally. 

If  there  is  to  be  a  reform,  it  must  be  commenced, 
and  in  a  considerable  degree  accomplished,  in  the 
primary  schools.  These  studies  will  be  taught  after- 
wards ;  but  the  grammar  and  high  schools  can  never 
compensate  for  any  defect  permitted,  or  any  wrong 


Elementary  Education.  14.5 

done,  in  the  primary  schools.  Reading  is  first 
mechanical,  and  then  intellectual  and  emotional.  In 
the  primary  schools  attention  is  first  given  to  mechan- 
ical training,  while  the  intellectual  and  emotional 
culture  is  necessarily  in  a  degree  postponed.  When 
the  first  part  of  the  work  is  thoroughly  done,  there 
is  no  ground  for  complaint,  and  we  may  look  to  the 
teachers  of  advanced  classes  and  schools  for  the 
proper  performance  of  the  remaining  duty.  The 
ability  to  spell  arbitrarily,  either  in  writing  or  orally, 
and  the  ability  to  read  mechanically,  —  that  is,  the 
ability  to  seize  the  words  readily,  and  utter  them 
fluently  and  accurately,  —  must  be  acquired  by  much 
spelling  and  much  reading. 

This  work  belongs  to  the  early  years  of  school- 
life  ;  and,  if  it  can  be  faithfully  performed,  the  intro- 
duction of  text-books  in  grammar,  geography  and 
arithmetic,  may  be  wisely  postponed.  But  it  is  a 
sad  condition  of  things,  which  we  are  often  com- 
pelled to  contemplate,  when  a  pupil,  who  might 
have  become  a  respectable  reader  had  the  elementary 
training  been  careful,  accurate  and  long-continued, 
is  introduced  to  an  advanced  class,  and  there  strug- 
gles against  obstacles  which  he  cannot  comprehend, 
and  which  the  teacher  cannot  remove,  and  finally 
leaves  the  school  without  the  ability  to  read  in  a 
manner  intelligible  to  himself,  or  satisfactory  to 
13 


146  Elementary  Education. 

others.  It  is  the  appropriate  work  of  primary 
schools,  and  of  the  teachers  of  piimary  classes  in 
district  schools,  to  develop  and  chasten  the  moral 
powers  of  children,  to  train  them  in  those  habits  and 
practices  that  are  favorable  to  health  and  life, 
whether  anything  is  known  of  physiology  as  a  sci- 
ence or  not,  and  to  give  the  best  culture  possible  to 
the  eye,  the  ear,  the  hand  and  the  voice.  This  plan 
is  comprehensive  enough  for  any  teacher,  and  it  will 
be  found  sufficient  for  any  pupil  less  than  ten  years 
of  age.  Nor  am  I  speaking  of  that  culture  which  is 
merely  preparatory  for  the  life  of  the  artist,  but  of 
that  practical  training  which  will  enable  the  subject 
of  it  so  to  use  his  powers  as  to  render  his  life  valu- 
able to  himself,  and  valuable  to  the  world.  There 
will  be,  in  the  exercises  comprehended  by  this  out- 
line, sufficient  mental  discipline.  It  will,  of  course, 

wt 

be  chiefly  incidental,  and  it  "may  well  be  doubted 
whether  studies  that  are  merely  disciplinary  should 
ever  be  introduced  into  our  schools.  There  are 
useful  occupations  for  pupils  that,  at  the  same  time, 
tax  and  test  the  mind  sufficiently.  The  plan  in- 
dicated does  not  exclude  grammar,  geography  and 
mental  arithmetic,  but  text-books  will  not  at  first  be 
needed.  Grarnnwr  should  be  taught  by  conversa- 
tion, and  in  connection  with  the  excrcisel  in  read- 
ing. Grammar  is  the  appreciation  of  the  power  of 


Elementary  Education.  147 

the  words  of  the  language  in  any  given  relations  to 
each  other,  and  a  knowledge  of  grammar  is  essential 
to  the  ability  to  speak,  read  and  write  properly. 
Therefore,  grammatical  rules  and  definitions  are,  or 
should  be,  deduced  from  the  language.  Hence 
children  should  be  first  trained  to  speak  with  accu- 
racy, so  that  habit  shall  be  on  the  side  of  taste  and 
science  ;  next  the  offices  which  words  perform  in 
simple  sentences  should  be  illustrated  and  made 
clear.  And  thus  far  without  text-books ;  when, 
finally,  with  their  help,  the  pupils  in  the  higher 
schools  may  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  science, 
and,  at  once,  as  the  result  of  previous  training, 
discern  the  reason  for  each  rule  and  definition.  The 
study  of  grammar  requires  some  use  of  mental 
power ;  but  when  it  is  presented  to  pupils  by  the 
aid  of  an  object  which,  in  itself  and  in  what  it  does, 
illustrates  the  subject  and  the  predicate  of  a  sen- 
tence, the  work  of  comprehending  the  offices  which 
words  perform  is  rendered  comparatively  easy. 
Having  the  skeleton  thus  furnished,  and  with  the 
eye«  and  minds  of  the  pupils  fixed  upon  an  object 
that  possesses  known  and  appreciable  powers  and 
qualities,  it  is  not  difficult  for  the  teacher  to  con- 
struct a  sentence  that  shall  contain  words  of  several 
parts  of  speech,  all  understood,  because  the  gram- 
matical office  of  each  was  seen  even  before  the  word 


148  Elementary  Education. 

itself  was  used.  This  work  may  be  commenced 
when  the  child  is  young,  and  very  satisfactory 
results  ought  to  be  secured  as  soon  as  the  pupil 
is  in  other  respects  qualified  to  enter  a  grammar 
school.  The  pupil  should  be  trained  in  reading  as 
an  art  ;  that  is,  with  the  purpose  of  expressing 
whatever  is  intellectual  and  emotional  in  the  text. 
Satisfactory  results  cannot  at  first  be  secured  by 
much  reading;  it  seems  wiser  for  the  teacher  to 
select  an  extract,  paragraph,  or  single  sentence 
only,  and  drill  a  pupil  or  a  class  until  the  meaning 
of  the  author  is  comprehended,  and  accurately  or 
even  artistically  expressed.  This  can  be  done  only 
when  the  teacher  reads  the  passage  again  and  again 
in  the  best  manner  possible.  The  contrary  practice 
of  reading  volumes  of  extracts  from  the  writings  of 
the  most  gifted  men  of  ancient  and  modern  times, 
without  preparation  by  the  pupil,  without  example, 
explanation,  correction,  or  questionings,  by  the 
teacher,  cannot  be  too  strongly  condemned.  The 
lime  will  come  when  these  selections  may  be  read 
with  profit ;  but  it  is  better  to  read  something  well 
than  to  read  a  great  deal ;  or  there  should  be  at 
least  thorough  drill  in  connection  with  every  exer- 
cise, until  the  pupils  have  attained  some  degree  of 
perfection.  It  may  not  be  best  to  confine  advanced 
pupils  to  the  exercises  in  the  text-books.  If  such 


Elementary  Education.  149 

pupils  are  invited  occasionally  to  make  selections 
from  their  entire  range  of  reading,  the  teacher  will 
have  an  opportunity  to  correct  whatever  is  vicious 
in  taste  ;  and  the  pupil  making  the  selection  will  be 
compelled  to  read  in  such  a  manner  that  those  who 
listen  can  understand,  which  is  not  always  the  case 
when  the  language  is  addressed  to  the  eye  as  well 
as  to  the  ear. 

The  introduction  of  Colburn's  Intellectual  Arith- 
metic was  an  epoch  in  the  science.  It  wrought  a 
radical  change  in  the  ability  of  the  people  to  apply 
the  power  of  numbers  to  the  practical  business  of 
life.  Its  excellence  does  not  consist  in  rules  and 
illustrations  by  which  examples  and  problems  are 
easily  solved,  but  in  leading  the  mind  of  the  pupil 
into  natural  and  apparent  processes  of  reasoning,  by 
which  he  is  enabled  to  comprehend  a  proposition 
as  an  independent  fact.  Herein  is  a  mental  disci- 
pline of  great  value,  not  only  in  the  sciences,  but  in 
the  daily  affairs  of  men  of  all  classes  and  conditions. 
It  is  to  be  feared  that  equally  satisfactory  results 
have  not  been  attained  in  what  is  called  written 
arithmetic.  This  partial  failure  deserves  considera- 
tion. The  first  cause  may  be  found  in  an  erroneous 
opinion  concerning  the  difference  between  mental 
and  written  arithmetic.  Written  arithmetic  is  men- 
tal arithmetic  merely,  with  a  record  at  given  stages 
13* 


150  Elementary  Education. 

of  the  process  of  what  at  that  point  is  accomplished. 
But,  as  written  arithmetic  tends  to  lessen  the  power 
of  the  pupil  for  the  performance  of  those  operations 
that  are  purely  mental,  he  should  be  subjected,  each 
day,  to  a  searching  and  rapid  drill  in  mental  arith- 
metic also.  This  neglect  on  the  part  of  teachers 
explains  the  singular  fact  that  pupils,  well  trained 
in  mental  arithmetic,  after  attending  to  written 
arithmetic  for  three  or  six  months,  appear  to  have 
lost  rather  than  gained  in  their  knowledge  of  the 
science  as  a  whole. 

The  second  cause  of  failure  may  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  rules,  processes  and  simple  methods  of 
solution,  contained  in  the  books,  are  substituted  for 
the  power  of  comprehension  by  the  pupil.  He 
should  be  trained  to  seize  an  example  mentally, 
whether  the  slate  is  to  be  used  or  not,  and  hold  it 
until  he  can  determine  by  what  process  the  solution 
is  to  be  wrought.  Nor  is  it  a  serious  objection  that 
he  may  not  at  first  avail  himself  of  the  easiest 
method.  The  difference  between  methods  or  ways 
is  altogether  a  subordinate  consideration.  There 
may  bo  many  ways  of  reaching  a  truth,  but  no  one 
of  them  is  as  important  as  the  truth  itself.  The 
text-books  should  contain  all  the  facts  needed  for 
the  comprehension  and  the  solution  of  the  examples 
given  :  the  teacher  should  furnish  explanations  and 


Elementary  Education.  151 

other  aids,  as  they  are  needed  ;  but  the  practice  of 
adopting  a  process  and  following  it  to  an  apparently 
satisfactory  conclusion,  without  comprehending  the 
problem  itself,  is  a  serious  educational  evil,  and  it 
exerts  a  permanent  pernicious  influence. 

The  remarks  I  have  now  made  upon  methods  of 
teaching,  which  may  seem  to  have  been  offered  in  a 
spirit  of  severe  criticism,  should  be  qualified  and 
relieved  by  the  statement  that  our  teachers  are  as 
well  educated  as  any  in  the  country,  and  that  they 
are  yearly  making  progress  in  their  profession. 
Indeed,  I  am  encouraged  to  suggest  that  better 
things  are  possible,  by  the  consideration  that  many 
instances  of  distinguished  success  in  teaching  the 
alphabet,  reading  and  grammar,  are  known  to  me  ; 
and  that  teachers  are  themselves  aware  that  the 
work  is,  upon  the  whole,  inadequately  performed. 
If,  as  is  generally  conceded,  the  highest  order  of 
teaching  talent  is  required  in  the  primary  schools, 
then  that  talent  should  be  sought  out  by  commit- 
tees ;  the  persons  possessing  it  should  enjoy  the 
best  means  of  preparation  ;  they  should  receive  the 
highest  rewards,  both  in  money  and  public  consid- 
eration, and  they  should  be  induced  to  labor,  with- 
out change  or  interruption,  in  the  same  schools  and 
among  the  same  people. 


THE  RELATIVE  MERITS   OF  PUBLIC    HIGH  SCHOOLS 
AND  ENDOWED  ACADEMIES. 

[Remarks  before  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  at  Manchester,  N.  H.] 

INDEBTED  to  my  friend  on  the  other  side,  and  to 
you,  sir,  and  this  audience,  for  inviting  me  to  take  a 
position  on  this  floor,  I  am  still  without  any  special 
preparation  to  discuss  the  subject.  I  have  thought 
upon  it,  because  any  one,  however  humbly  connected 
with  free  schools  in  this  country,  must  have  done 
so.  And  especially  just  now,  when,  in  the  educa- 
tional journal  of  Massachusetts,  a  discussion  has 
been  conducted  between  one  of  its  editors  and  Mr. 
Gulliver,  the  able  originator  of  a  school  in  Norwich, 
Ct.,  and  the  advocate  of  the  system  of  school  gov- 
ernment established  there.  And,  therefore,  every 
one  who  has  had  his  eyes  open  must  have  seen  that 
here  is  a  great  contest,  and  that  underlying  it  is  a 
principle  which  is  important  to  society. 

The  distinguishing  difference  between  the  advo- 
cates of  endowed  schools  and  of  free  schools  is  this  : 
those  who  advocate  the  system  of  endowed  acade- 
mies go  back  in  their  arguments  to  one  foundation, 

(162) 


Public  and  Private  Schools.         153 

which  is,  that  in  education  of  the  higher  grades  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  are  not  to  be  trusted.  And 
those  who  advocate  a  system  of  free  education  in  high 
schools  put  the  matter  where  we  have  put  the  rights 
of  property  and  liberty,  where  we  put  the  institu- 
tions of  law  and  religion — upon  the  public  judgment. 
And  we  will  stand  there.  If  the  public  will  not 
maintain  institutions  of  learning,  then,  I  say,  let  in- 
stitutions of  learning  go  down.  If  I  belong  to  a  state 
which  cannot  be  moved  from  its  extremities  to  its 
centre,  and  from  its  centre  to  its  extremities,  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  system  of  public  instruction,  then, 
in  that  respect,  I  disown  that  state  ;  and  if  there  be 
one  state  in  this  Union  whose  people  cannot  be 
aroused  to  maintain  a  system  of  public  instruction, 
then  they  are  false  to  the  great  leading  idea  of  Ameri- 
can principles,  and  of  civil,  political,  and  religious 
liberty. 

It  is  easy  to  enumerate  the  advantages  of  a  sys- 
tem of  public  education,  and  the  evils — I  say  evils — 
of  endowed  academies,  whether  free  or  charging  pay- 
ment for  tuition.  Endowed  academies  are  not,  in  all 
respects,  under  all  circumstances,  and  everywhere, 
to  be  condemned.  In  discussing  this  subject,  it  may 
be  well  for  me  to  state  the  view  that  I  have  of  the 
proper  position  of  endowed  academies.  They  have  a 
place  in  the  educational  wants  of  this  age.  This  is 


154          Public  and  Private  Schools. 

especially  true  of  academies  of  the  highest  rank, 
which  furnish  an  elevated  and  extended  course  of 
instruction.  To  such  I  make  no  objection,  but  I 
would  honor  and  encourage  them.  Yet  I  regard 
private  schools,  which  do  the  work  usually  done 
in  public  schools,  as  temporary,  their  necessity  as 
ephemeral,  and  I  think  that  under  a  proper  public 
sentiment  they  will  soon  pass  away.  They  cannot 
stand,  —  such  has  been  the  experience  in  Massachu- 
setts,—  they  cannot  stand  by  the  side  of  a  good 
system  of  public  education.  Yet  where  the  popula- 
tion is  sparse,  where  there  is  not  property  sufficient 
to  enable  the  people  to  establish  a  high  school,  then 
an  endowed  school  may  properly  come  in  to  make 
up  the  deficiency,  to  supply  the  means  of  education 
to  which  the  public  wealth,  at  the  present  moment, 
is  unequal.  Endowed  institutions  very  properly, 
also,  give  a  professional  education  to  the  people. 
At  this  moment  we  cannot  look  to  the  public  to  give 
that  education  which  is  purely  professional.  But 
what  we  do  look  to  the  public  for  is  this  :  to  furnish 
the  means  of  education  to  the  children  of  the  whole 
people,  without  any  reference  to  social,  pecuniary, 
political,  or  religious  distinctions,  BO  that  every  per- 
son may  have  a  preliminary  education  sufficient  for 
the  ordinary  business  of  life. 

It  is  said  that  the  means  of  education  are  better  in 


Public  and  Private  Schools.         155 

an  endowed  academy,  or  in  an  endowed  free  school, 
than  they  can  be  in  a  public  school.  What  is  meant 
by  means  of  education  ?  I  understand  that,  first 
and  chiefly,  as  extraneous  means  of  education,  we 
must  look  to  a  correct  public  sentiment,  which  shall 
animate  and  influence  the  teacher,  which  shall  give 
direction  to  the  school,  which  shall  furnish  the 
necessary  public  funds.  An  endowed  free  academy 
can  have  none  of  these  things  permanently.  Take, 
for  example,  the  free  school  established  at  Nor- 
wich by  the  liberality  of  thirty  or  forty  gentlemen, 
who  contributed  ninety  thousand  dollars.  What 
security  is  there  that  fifty  years  hence,  when  the 
educational  wants  of  the  people  shall  be  changed, 
when  the  population  of  Norwich  shall  be  double  or 
treble  what  it  is  now,  when  science  shall  make  greater 
demands,  when  these  forty  contributors  shall  have 
passed  away,  this  institution  will  answer  the  wants 
of  that  generation  ?  According  to  what  we  know 
of  the  history  of  this  country,  it  will  be  entirely  in- 
adequate ;  and,  though  none  of  us  may  live  to  see 
the  prediction  fulfilled  or  falsified,  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  say  that  the  school  will  ultimately  prove  a  failure, 
because  it  is  founded  in  a  mistake. 

Then  look  and  see  what  would  have  been  the  ^tate 
of  things  if  there  had  been  public  spirit  invoked  to 
establish  a  public  high  school,  and  if  the  means  for 


156          Public  and  Private  Schools. 

its  support  had  been  raised  by  taxation  of  all  the 
people,  so  that  the  system  of  education  would  have 
expanded  according  to  the  growth  of  the  city,  and 
year  by  year  would  have  accommodated  itself  to  the 
public  wants  and  public  zeal  in  the  cause.  Though 
these  means  seem  now  to  be  ample,  they  will  by  and 
by  be  found  too  limited.  The  school  at  Norwich  is 
encumbered  with  regulations  ;  and  so  every  endowed 
institution  is  likely  to^be,  because  the  right  of  a  man 
to  appropriate  his  property  to  a  particular  object 
carries  with  it,  in  the  principles  of  common  law,  and 
in  the  administration  of  the  law,  in  all  free  govern- 
ments, the  right  to  declare,  to  a  certain  extent,  how 
that  property  shall  be  applied.  Rules  have  been 
established  —  very  proper  and  judicious  rules  for  to- 
day. But  who  knows  that  a  hundred  years  hence 
they  will  be  proper  or  acceptable  at  all  ?  They  have 
also  established  a  board  of  trustees,  ultimately  to 
be  reduced  to  twenty-five.  These  trustees  have 
power  to  perpetuate  themselves.  Who  does  not  see 
that  you  have  severed  this  institution  from  the  public 
sentiment  of  the  city  of  Norwich,  and  that  ultimately 
that  city  will  seek  for  itself  what  it  needs  ;  and  that, 
a  hundred  years  hence,  it  will  not  consent  to  live,  in 
the  civilization  of  that  time,  under  the  regulations 
which  forty  men  have  now  established,  however  wise 
the  regulations  may  at  the  present  moment  be  ? 


Public  and  Private  Schools.         157 

One  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  Thomas  Hollis, 
of  London,  made  a  bequest  to  the  university  at  Cam- 
bridge, with  a  provision  that  on  every  Thursday  a 
professor  should  sit  in  his  chair  to  answer  questions 
in  polemic  theology.  All  well  enough  then ;  but 
the  public  sentiment  of  to-day  will  not  carry  it  out. 

So  it  may  be  with  the  school  at  Norwich  a  hun- 
dred years  hence.  The  man  or  state  that  sacrifices 
the  living  public  judgment  to  the  opinion  of  a  dead 
man,  or  a  dead  generation,  makes  a  great  mistake. 
We  should  never  substitute,  beyond  the  power  of 
revisal,  the  opinion  of  a  past  generation  for  the  opin- 
ion of  a  living  generation.  I  trust  to  the  living  men 
of  to-day  as  to  what  is  necessary  to  meet  our  exist- 
ing wants,  rather  than  to  the  wisest  men  who  lived 
in  Greece  or  Rome.  And,  if  I  would  not  trust  the 
wise  men  of  Greece  and  Rome,  I  do  not  know  why 
the  people,  a  hundred  years  hence,  should  trust  the 
wise  men  of  our  own  time. 

And  then  look  further,  and  see  how,  under  a  sys- 
tem of  public  instruction,  you  can  build  up,  from 
year  to  year,  in  the  growth  of  the  child,  a  system 
according  to  his  wants.  Private  instruction  cannot 
do  this.  What  do  we  do  where  we  have  a  correct 
system  ?  A  child  goes  into  a  primary  school.  He 
is  not  to  go  out  when  he  attains  a  certain  age.  He 
might  as  well  go  out  when  he  is  of  a  certain 
14 


158          Public  and  Private  Schools. 

height ;  there  would  be  as  much  merit  in  one  case 
as  in  the  other.  But  he  is  advanced  when  he  has 
made  adequate  attainments.  Who  does  not  see  that 
the  child  is  incited  and  encouraged  and  stimulated 
by  every  sentiment  to  which  you  should  appeal  ? 
And,  then,  when  he  has  gone  up  to  the  grammar 
school,  we  say  to  him,  "  You  are  to  go  into  the  high 
school  when  you  have  made  certain  attainments." 
And  who  is  to  judge  of  these  attainments  ?  A  com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  people,  over  whom  the  peo- 
ple have  some  ultimate  control.  And  in  that  control 
they  have  security  for  two  things :  first,  that  the 
committee  shall  not  be  suspected  of  partiality  ;  and 
secondly,  that  they  shall  not  be  actually  guilty  of 
partiality.  In  the  same  manner,  there  is  security 
for  the  proper  connection  between  the  high  school 
and  the  schools  below.  But  in  the  school  at  Nor- 
wich —  of  which  I  speak  because  it  is  now  promi- 
nent —  you  have  a  board  of  twenty-five  men,  irre- 
sponsible to  the  people.  They  select  a  committee  of 
nine ;  that  committee  determines  what  candidates 
shall  be  transferred  from  the  grammar  schools  to  the 
high  school.  May  there  not  be  suspicion  of  par- 
tiality ?  If  a  boy  or  girl  is  rejected,  you  look  for 
some  social,  political,  or  religious  influence  which 
has  caused  the  rejection,  and  the  parent  and  child 
complain.  Hero  is  a  great  evil;  for  the  real  and 


Public  and  Private  Schools.          159 

apparent  justice  of  the  examination  and  decision  by 
which  pupils  are  transferred  from  one  school  to 
another  is  vital  to  the  success  of  the  system. 

There  is  another  advantage  in  the  system  of  pub- 
lic high  schools,  which  I  imagine  the  people  do  not 
always  at  first  appreciate.  It  is,  that  the  private 
school,  with  the  same  teachers,  the  same  apparatus, 
and  the  same  means,  cannot  give  the  education 
which  may  be,  and  usually  is,  furnished  in  the  pub- 
lic schools.  This  statement  may  seem  to  require 
some  considerable  support.  We  must  look  at  facts 
as  they  are.  Some  people  are  poor ;  I  am  sorry 
for  them.  Some  people  are  rich,  and  I  congratulate 
them  upon  their  good  fortune.  But  it  is  not  so 
much  of  a  benefit,  after  all,  as  many  think.  It  is 
worth  something  in  this  world,  no  doubt,  to  be  rich  ; 
but  what  is  the  result  of  that  condition  upon  the 
family  first,  the  school  afterwards,  and  society 
finally  ?  It  is,  that  some  learn  the  lesson  of  life  a 
little  earlier  than  others  ;  and  that  lesson  is  the  les- 
son of  self-reliance,  which  is  worth  more  than — I 
will  not  say  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language  — 
but  worth  more  than  Latin  or  Greek.  If  the  great 
lesson  of  self-reliance  is  to  be  learned,  who  is  more 
likely  to  acquire  it  early,  —  the  child  of  the  poor,  or 
the  child  of  the  rich  ;  the  child  who  has  most  done 
for  him,  or  the  child  who  is  under  the  necessity  of 


160         Public  and  Private  Schools. 

doing  most  for  himself?  Plainly,  the  latter.  Now, 
while  a  system  of  public  instruction  in  itself  cannot 
be  magnified  in  its  beneficial  influences  to  the  poor 
and  to  the  children  of  the  poor,  it  is  equally, bene- 
ficial to  the  rich  in  the  facility  it  affords  for  the  in- 
struction of  their  children.  Is  it  not  worth  some- 
thing to  the  rich  man,  who  cannot,  from  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  teach  self-reliance  around  the 
family  hearth,  to  send  his  child  to  school  to  learn 
this  lesson  with  other  children,  that  he  may  be  stim- 
ulated, that  he  may  be  provoked  to  exertions  which 
he  would  not  otherwise  have  made  ?  For,  be  it  re- 
membered that  in  our  schools  public  sentiment  is  as 
well  marked  as  in  a  college,  or  a  town,  or  a  nation  ; 
that  it  moves  forward  in  the  same  way.  And  the 
great  object  of  a  teacher  should  be  to  create  a  public 
sentiment  in  favor  of  virtue.  There  should  be  some 
pioneers  in  favor  of  forming  a  correct  public  senti- 
ment ;  and  when  it  is  formed  it  moves  on  irresistibly. 
It  is  like  the  river  made  up  of  drops  from  the  moun- 
tain side,  moving  on  with  more  and  more  power, 
until  everything  in  its  waters  is  carried  to  tho 
destined  end. 

So  in  a  public  school.  And  it  is  worth  much 
to  the  man  of  wealth  that  there  may  be,  near  his 
own  door,  an  institution  to  which  he  may  send  his 
children,  and  under  the  influence  of  which  they  may 


Public  and  Private  Schools.         161 

be  carried  forward.  For,  depend  upon  it,  after  all 
we  say  about  schools  and  institutions  of  learning, 
it  is  nevertheless  true  of  education,  as  a  statesman 
has  said  of  the  government,  that  the  people  look  to 
the  school  for  too  much.  It  is  not,  after  all,  a  great 
deal  that  the  child  gets  there  ;  but,  if* he  only  gets 
the  ability  to  acquire  more  than  he  has,  the  schools 
accomplish  something.  If  you  give  a  child  a  little 
knowledge  of  geography  or  arithmetic,  and  have  not 
developed  the  power  to  accomplish  something  for 
himself,  he  comes  to  but  little  in  the  world.  But  put 
him  into  the  school, — the  primary,  grammar,  and 
high  school,  where  he  must  learn  for  himself,  —  and 
he  will  be  fitted  for  the  world  of  life  into  which  he  is 
to  enter. 

You  will  see  in  this  statement  that,  with  the  same 
parties,  the  same  means  of  education,  the  same 
teachers,  the  public  schools  will  accomplish  more 
than  private  schools. 

I  find  everywhere,  and  especially  in  the  able  ad- 
dress of  Mr.  Gulliver,  to  which  I  have  referred,  that 
the  public  schools  are  treated  as  of  questionable 
morality,  and  it  is  implied  that  something  would 
be  gained  by  removing  certain  children  from  the 
influence  of  these  schools.  If  I  were  speaking 
from  another  point  of  view,  very  likely  I  should 
feel  bound  to  hold  up  the  evils  and  defects  which 
14* 


162         Public  and  Private  Schools. 

actually  exist  in  public  schools ;  but  when  I  con- 
sider them  in  contrast  with  endowed  and  private 
schools,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  public 
schools  compare  favorably ;  and,  as  the  work  of  edu- 
cation goes  on,  the  comparison  will  be  more  and 
more  to  their  advantage.  Why  ?  I  know  some- 
thing of  the  private  institutions  in  Massachusetts ; 
and  there  are  boys  in  them  who  have  left  the  public 
schools  because  they  have  fallen  in  their  classes, 
and  the  public  interest  would  not  justify  their  con- 
tinuance in  the  schools.  It  was  always  true  that 
private  schools  did  not  represent  the  world  exactly 
as  it  was.  It  is  worth  everything  to  a  boy  or  girl, 
man  or  woman,  to  look  the  world  in  the  face  as  it  is. 
Therefore,  the  public  school,  when  it  represents 
the  world  as  it  is,  represents  the  facts  of  life.  The 
private  school  never  has  done  and  never  will  do 
this  ;  and  as  time  goes  on,  it  will  be  less  and  less  a 
true  representative  of  the  world.  From  this  point 
of  view,  it  seems  to  be  a  mistake  on  the  part  of 
parents  to  exclude  their  children  from  the  world. 
Is  it  not  better  that  the  child  should  learn  some- 
thing of  society,  even  of  its  evils,  when  under  your 
influence,  and  when  you  can  control  him  by  your 
counsel  and  example,  than  to  permit  him  finally 
to  go  out,  as  you  must  when  his  majority  comes, 
perhaps  to  be  seduced  in  a  moment,  as  it  were,  from 


Public  and  Private  Schools.         163 

his  allegiance  to  virtue  ?  Virtue  is  not  exclusion 
from  the  presence  of  vice  ;  but  it  is  resistance  to  vice 
in  its  presence.  And  it  is  the  duty  of  parents  to 
provide  safeguards  for  the  support  of  their  children 
against  these  temptations.  When  Cicero  was  called 
on  to  defend  Muraena  against  the  slander  that,  as 
he  had  lived  in  Asia,  he  had  been  guilty  of  certain 
crimes,  and  when  the  testimony  failed  to  substan- 
tiate the  charge,  the  orator  said,  "  And  if  Asia  does 
carry  with  it  a  suspicion  of  luxury,  surely  it  is  a 
praiseworthy  thing,  not  never  to  have  seen  Asia,  but 
to  have  lived  temperately  in  Asia."  And  we  have 
yet  higher  authority.  It  is  not  the  glory  of  Christ, 
or  of  Christianity,  that  its  Divine  Author  was  with- 
out temptation,  but  that,  being  tempted,  he  was 
without  sin.  This  is  the  great  lesson  of  the  day. 

The  duty  of  the  public  is  to  provide  means  for  the 
education  of  all.  To  do  that,  we  need  the  political, 
social,  and  moral  power  of  all,  to  sustain  teachers 
and  institutions  of  learning  ;  and  endowed  or  free 
schools,  depending  upon  the  contributions  of  individ- 
uals, can  never,  in  a  free  country,  be  raised  to  the 
character  of  a  system.  If  you  rob  the  public  schools 
of  the  influence  of  our  public-spirited  men,  if  they 
take  away  a  portion  of  their  pupils  from  them,  our 
system  is  impaired.  It  must  stand  as  a  whole,  educat- 
ing the  entire  people,  and  looking  to  all  for  support, 
or  it  cannot  be  permanently  maintained. 


THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  SYSTEM. 

[An  Address  delivered  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Powers  Institute,  Bcrnardston.J 

THERE  cannot  be  a  more  gratifying  spectacle  than 
the  universal  homage  offered  to  education  and  to 
the  young.  Childhood  is  attractive  in  itself;  and 
it  is  peculiarly  an  object  of  solicitude  for  its  prom- 
ises concerning  the  future.  Hence  the  labors  of 
philanthropists,  reformers,  and  Christians,  as  well 
as  of  teachers,  are  devoted  to  the  culture  and  im- 
provement of  the  rising  generation,  as  the  chief 
security  possible  for  the  prevalence  of  better  ideas 
in  the  state  and  in  the  world. 

Massachusetts  has  been  peculiarly  favored  in  the 
means  of  education;  and  we  ought  ever  to  recognize 
the  divine  influence  in  the  wisdom  which  led  our 
fathers  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  system  that  con- 
templated the  education  of  the  whole  people.  The 
power  of  this  great  idea,  universal  education,  has 
not  been  limited  to  Massachusetts  ;  the  states  of 
the  West,  the  states  of  the  South,  receive  it  as  the 
basis  of  a  wise  public  policy  ;  and  had  our  ancestors 
contributed  nothing  else  to  the  glory  of  the  republic, 

(164) 


The  High  School  System.          165 

they  would  yet  be  entitled  to  the  distinguished  con- 
sideration of  every  age  and  people.  The  vigor  of 
our  culture  and  the  hardihood  of  our  institutions  are 
more  manifest  out  of  Massachusetts  than  in  it.  The 
immigrant  in  his  new  home  in  the  great  valley  of 
prairies,  on  the  northern  shores  of  the  American 
lakes,  in  Oregon,  California,  or  the  islands  of  the 
Pacific,  invokes  the  spirit  of  New  England  in  the 
establishment  of  a  free  church  and  a  free  school. 
And  in  the  spirit  and  discipline  of  New  England, 
the  thoughts  of  her  sons  are  turned  homeward  in 
adversity,  seeking  consolation  at  the  sources  of 
early,  vigorous,  and  happy  life  ;  or,  in  prosperity, 
that  they  may  offer,  in  gratitude  to  man  and  to  God, 
some  tribute,  always  noble,  however  humble,  to  the 
principles  and  institutions  that  first  formed  their 
characters,  and  then  controlled  their  destiny ;  or, 
in  old  age,  the  wanderer,  like  Jacob  in  Egypt,  with 
his  blessing  upon  the  tribes  and  families  of  men, 
says,  "I  am  to  be  gathered  unto  my  people  ;  bury 
me  with  my  fathers.77  This  occasion  arid  its  honors 
are  due  to  the  memory  of  him  whose  name  this  insti- 
tution bears  ;  arid  his  last  will  and  testament  is  an 
illustration,  or  rather  the  cause,  of  these  prefatory 
remarks.  As  the  reasonably  extended  and  emi- 
nently prosperous  life  of  your  wise  benefactor  ap- 
proached its  close,  he,  in  the  principles  of  Old 


166          The  High  School  System. 

England  and  of  New  England,  ordered  and  directed 
the  payment  of  all  his  just  debts  ;  and  then,  sec- 
ondl}T,  expressed  the  wish,  "if  practicable,  to  be 
buried  by  the  side  of  his  parents  in  the  cemetery  at 
Bernardston."  First  justice,  and  then  affection  for 
parents,  kindred,  and  home,  animated  the  vital, 
never-dying  soul,  as  the  life  of  the  body  ebbed  and 
flowed,  and  flowed  and  ebbed,  to  flow  no  more. 
For  every  good  the  ancients  imagined  and  named 
a  divinity  ;  and  there  is  in  every  good  something 
divine. 

We  do  not  deify  the  living  nor  the  dead  ;  yet 
such  foundations  and  institutions  as  the  Lawrence 
Scientific  School,  the  Peabody  Institute,  the  Powers 
Institute,  will  bear  to  a  grateful  posterity  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  virtues  of  their  respective  founders,  and 
of  the  exactness,  rectitude,  and  wisdom,  of  the  public 
sentiment  which  religiously  consecrates  the  means 
provided  to  the  ends  proposed. 

But  just  eulogy  of  the  dead  is  the  appropriate 
duty  of  those  who  were  the  associates  and  friends 
of  tho  founder  of  this  school.  —  It  will  be  my  pur- 
pose, in  the  humble  part  I  take  in  the  services  of 
this  honored  occasion,  to  point  out,  as  I  may  bo 
able,  tho  connection  between  learning  and  wisdom, 
and  then,  by  the  aid  of  some  general  remarks  upon 
education,  to  examine  the  fitness  of  this  foundation, 


The  High  School  System.          167 

and  the  rules  here  established,  to  promote  human 
progress  and  virtue. 

The  actual  available  power  of  a  state  is  in  its 
adult  population  ;  but  its  hope  is  in  the  classes  of 
children  and  youth  whose  plastic  minds  yield  to 
good  influences,  and  are  moulded  to  higher  forms 
of  beauty  than  have  been  conceived  by  Italian  or 
Grecian  art.  Excellence  is  always  adorable  and  to 
be  adored.  If  it  appear  in  beauty  of  person,  it  com- 
mands our  admiration  ;  and  how  much  more  ought 
wisdom,  which  is  the  beauty  of  the  mind  and  the 
excellency  of  the  soul,  to  be  cultivated  arid  cher- 
ished by  every  human  being  !  "  For  what  is  there, 
0>  ye  gods  !  "  says  Cicero,  "  more  desirable  than 
wisdom  ?  What  more  excellent  and  lovely  in  it- 
self? What  more  useful  and  becoming  for  a  man  ? 
Or  what  more  worthy  of  his  reasonable  nature  ?  " 

But  wisdom  cannot  be  acquired  in  a  day,  nor 
without  devotion  and  toil.-  It  is  the  achievement 
of  a  life.  It  is  to  be  pursued  carefully  through 
schools,  colleges,  and  the  world, — to  be  mastered 
by  study,  intense  thought,  rigid  mental  discipline, 
and  an  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  best  authors 
of  ancient  and  modern  times.  It  is  not  the  child  of 
ease,  indolence,  or  luxury  ;  arid  it  is  well  that  it  is 
not.  The  best  of  human  possessions  are  cheapened 
when  their  attainment  is  no  longer  difficult.  The 


168  The  High  School  System. 

wealth  of  California  and  Australia  has  made  silver, 
as  an  article  of  luxury,  the  rival  of  gold ;  and  the 
pearl  loses  its  beauty  when  the  mountain  streams 
are  as  fertile  as  the  depths  of  the  sea.  Wisdom 
comprehends  learning,  but  learning  is  often  found 
where  wisdom  is  wanting.  Wisdom  is  not  accom- 
plishment in  study,  or  perfection  in  art,  or  suprem- 
acy in  poetry  or  eloquence.  Learning  is  essential  to 
wisdom,  for  we  cannot  imagine  a  wise  man  who  is 
not  also  a  learned  man ;  and  the  extent  and  soundness 
of  his  learning  may  be  a  measure  of  his  wisdom. 
Wisdom  must  always  have  a  basis  of  learning,  but 
learning  is  not  always  a  basis  of  wisdom.  Learning 
is  a  knowledge  of  particulars,  of  details  ;  wisdom  is 
such  a  combination  of  these  particulars  as  enables 
us  to  harmonize  our  lives  with  the  laws  of  nature 
and  of  God. 

Learning  is  manifested  in  what  we  know  ;  wisdom 
in  what  we  are,  based  upon  what  we  know.  Philos- 
ophy, even,  is  love  for  wisdom  rather  than  wisdom 
itself.  The  old  philosophers  defined  wisdom  to  be 
"  the  knowledge  of  things,  both  divine  and  human, 
together  with  the  causes  .on  which  they  depend  ; " 
and  in  the  proverb  of  Solomon,  "  The  fear  of  the 
Lord  is  the  instruction  of  wisdom."  Purity,  truth, 
and  justice,  are  also  of  its  foundation.  Wise  men  of 
the  Jewish  and  Pagan  world  built  on  this  founda- 


The  High  School  System.  169 

tion,  and  the  Christian  can  build  on  none  other. 
Having  combined  learning  with  these  essential  vir- 
tues, a  liberal,  symmetrical,  comprehensive  charac- 
ter may  be  built  up.  In  the  formation  of  such  a 
character,  industry,  powers  of  observation,  strength 
of  will  and  intellectual  humility,  are  requisite.  The 
virtue  and  the  glory  of  industry  cannot  be  presented 
too  often  to  the  young.  I  know  of  no  worldly  good 
or  human  excellence  that  can  be  attained  without 
it ;  nor  is  there  any  inherited  possession  of  name, 
or  wealth,  or  position,  that  can  be  preserved  in  its 
extent  and  quality  without  active,  systematic,  judi- 
cious labor. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  consider  industry  as  habit- 
ual diligence  in  a  pursuit,  manual  or  intellectual ; 
but  rather  as  a  judicious  arrangement  of  business 
and  recreation,  so  as  always  to  have  time  for  the 
necessary  duties  of  life.  Mere  diligence  is  not  in- 
dustry in  a  good  sense  ;  it  is  labor  in  a  bad  sense. 
Our  time  should  be  systematically  appropriated  to 
our  employments,  and  each  measure  of  time  should 
be  equal  to  the  work  or  duty  appointed  for  it. 
Moreover,  each  work  or  duty  should  be  accom- 
plished in  its  appointed  time  ;  and  this  can  be 
secured  only  by  a  strong  will.  The  power  of  will 
admits  of  education,  culture,  improvement,  as  much 
as  any  faculty  of  the  mind  or  quality  of  character. 
15 


170  The  High  School  System. 

A  fickle,  planless  life  cannot  accomplish  much. 
System  in  our  plans,  and  firmness  of  will  in  their 
execution,  will  place  us  beyond  the  reach  of  ordi- 
nary disasters  ;  yet  how  often  do  young  men  go 
through  a  course  of  school  studies  without  a  plan, 
even  for  the  moment,  and  enter  upon  life  the  slaves 
of  chance,  the  victims  of  what  they  call  fortune, 
while  they  might  by  industry,  system  and  firmness 
of  will,  rise  superior  to  circumstances,  and  extort 
a  measure  of  success  not  unworthy  of  a  noble 
ambition  ! 

Idleness  is  a  wasting  disease,  a  consuming  fire, 
a  destroying  demon  ;  in  youth  it  is  a  calamity,  in 
the  vigor  of  manhood  it  is  a  disgrace  and  a  sin,  and 
in  old  age  it  can  be  honorably  accepted  only  as  the 
symbol  of  reflective  leisure  earned  by  a  life  of  indus- 
try and  virtue.  Industry  is  a  badge  of  honor,  an 
introduction  everywhere  to  the  true  nobility  of  tho 
world,  the  security  that  each  may  take  of  the  future 
for  his  own  happiness  and  prosperity  in  it. 

Cardinal,  personal  virtues  shrink  and  wither,  or 
are  blasted  and  die,  in  the  company  of  idleness  ; 
and,  without  firmness  of  will,  the  noblest  principles 
and  purest  sentiments  sometimes  wear  the  livery 
of  vico,  and  often  they  give  encouragement  to  it. 
Good  principles,  good  purposes,  good  ideas,  are 
fruitful  by  a  strong  resolution  ;  while  with- 


The  High  School  System.          171 

out  it  they  are  like  bubbles  of  water,  brilliant  in 
the  sun-light,  but  destined  to  collapse  by  the  chang- 
ing, silent  force  of  the  medium  in  which  they  float. 
And  can  any  life,  not  positively  vicious  and  crimi- 
nal, be  less  desirable  than  that  of  the  young  man 
who  quietly  accepts  whatever  condition  circum- 
stances assign  to  him  ?  I  speak  now  of  his  moral 
and  intellectual  condition  rather  than  of  his  social 
position  among  men.  The  latter  is  not  in  itself 
important,  and  only  becomes  so  through  the  exhibi- 
tion of  high  qualities  of  mind  and  character.  Social 
and  political  consideration  we  cannot  demand  as  a 
right  ;  but  we  may  acquire  knowledge,  develop 
qualities  of  character,  give  evidences  of  wisdom 
that  entitle  us  to  the  respect  of  our  fellows. 

It  may  be  agreeable,  but  it  is  not  absolutely  essen- 
tial, for  us  to  enjoy  the  public  confidence,  or  even  the 
public  consideration  ;  though  we  can  be  happy  our- 
selves only  when  we  are  conscious  of  not  being  totally 
unworthy.  But  no  social  or  political  concession  or 
consideration  is  acceptable  to  a  noble  mind,  that  is 
grudgingly  yielded  or  doubtingly  bestowed  ;  and 
the  lustre  of  great  intellects  is  dimmed  when  they 
become  subservient  to  claims  that  they  despise. 

But  can  we  acquire  a  knowledge  of  things,  either 
divine  or  human,  unless  we  cultivate  our  powers  of 
observation  ?  Partial  or  inaccurate  observation, 


172  The  High  School  System. 

especially  of  natural  things,  is  a  great  defect  of 
character  ;  and  in  New  England,  where  the  aim  of 
educators  and  of  the  public  in  matters  of  education 
is  elevated,  a  remedy  for  this  defect  ought  at  once 
to  be  sought  and  applied.  Our  ideas  are  vague 
concerning  many  subjects  of  common  sight  and 
common  observation.  Is  adult  life,  even  among  the 
educated  classes,  equal  to  a  description  of  the  com- 
mon animals,  trees,  fruits  and  flowers  ?  Who  will 
paint  with  words  the  elm  or  the  oak  so  that  its 
species  will  be  known  while  the  name  is  withheld  ? 
The  introduction  of  drawing  into  the  schools  will 
improve  the  power  of  observation  among  the  people, 
especially  if  the  pupils  are  required  to  make  nature 
their  model.  And  this  should  always  be  done.  0, 
how  is  education  belittled  and  the  mind  dwarfed  by 
those  teachers  who  keep  their  pupils'  thoughts  upon 
signs  and  definitions,  when  they  ought  to  deal  con- 
tinually with  the  facts,  things  and  life  of  the  world  ! 
It  is  no  fable  that  a  student  of  the  higher  mathe- 
matics, when  his  master,  a  practical  engineer  upon 
the  Boston  water-works,  required  his  services,  ex- 
claimed, "  I  had  no  idea  that  you  had  sines  and 
tangents  out  of  doors."  With  such, 

"  Nothing  goes  for  sense  or  light 
That  will  not  with  old  rules  jump  right ; 
As  if  rules  were  not  in  the  schools 
Derived  from  truth,  but  truth  from  rules.'* 


The  High  School  System.          173 

And  Butler,  in  his  satirical  description  of  Sir 
Hudibras,  ascribes  to  his  hero  more  practical  philos- 
ophy than  he  appears  to  have  intended,  and  more, 
certainly,  than  is  found  in  some  modern  systems  of 
education  : 

"  In  mathematics  he  was  greater 
Than  Tycho  Brahe  or  Erra  Pater  ; 
For  he,  by  geometric  scale, 
Could  take  the  size  of  pots  of  ale  ; 
Resolve  by  sines  and  tangents  straight, 
If  bread  or  butter  wanted  weight  ; 
And  wisely  tell  what  hour  o'  th'  day 
The  clock  does  strike,  by  algebra." 

Another  prerequisite  of  wisdom  is  intellectual 
humility.  Solomon  says,  "  Before  honor  is  humil- 
ity ;  "  and  humility  is  before  wisdom,  and  even  before 
learning.  We  ought  not  to  be  ashamed  of  involun- 
tary ignorance.  Franklin,  when  asked  how  he  came 
to  know  so  much,  replied,  "  By  never  being  ashamed 
to  ask  a  question." 

It  is  idle  for  any  one  to  imagine  that  there  is 
nothing  more  for  him  to  learn.  Indeed,  such  a  the- 
ory is  good  evidence  of  defective  education  and 
limited  attainments,  if  not  of  a  defective  mental  and 
moral  structure. 

Naturalists  delight  and  instruct  their  pupils  and 

auditors  with  the  wonderful  truths  folded  in  the 
15* 


174  The  High  School  System. 

flower,  garnered  in  the  plant,  or  imprisoned  in  the 
rock.  Yet  how  much  more  there  must  be  of  God's 
wisdom  in  the  humblest  of  the  beings  created  in  his 
image  !  There  are  distinctions  among  men  ;  and 
out  of  these  distinctions  come  the  truth  and  the 
necessity  that  each  may  be  both  a  teacher  and  a 
pupil  of  every  other.  No  man,  however  learned  he 
may  be,  does  know  or  can  know  all  that  is  known 
by  his  neighbor,  though  that  neighbor  be  the  hum- 
blest of  shepherds  or  of  fishermen.  We  are  not 
independent  of  each  other  in  anything.  The  earnest 
and  faithful  disciple  of  wisdom  goes  through  life 
everywhere  diffusing  knowledge,  and  everywhere 
gathering  it  up.  Over  the  great  gateway  of  life  is 
the  inscription,  "  None  but  learners  enter  here  ; " 
and  along  its  paths  and  in  its  groves  are  tablets,  on 
which  is  written,  "  None  but  learners  sojourn  here/' 
He  is  a  poor  teacher  who  is  not  a  learner,  and  he  is 
but  little  of  a  learner  who  is  not  something  of  a 
teacher  also.  The  best  teachers  are  they  who  are 
pupils,  and  the  best  pupils  are  already  teachers. 
Such  was  the  real  and  avowed  character  of  the  great 
teachers  of  antiquity ;  such  is  the  best  practice  of 
modern  continental  Europe,  and  such  is  the  require- 
ment of  nature  in  all  ages.  He  who  does  not  learn 
cannot  teach.  Socrates  professed  to  know  only 
this,  that  he  knew  nothing.  Plato  was  a  disciple 


The  High  School  System.  175 

of  Socrates  and  Euclid  ;  a  pupil  in  the  school  of 
Pythagoras  ;  and,  as  a  traveller,  under  the  disguise 
of  a  merchant  and  a  seller  of  oil,  he  visited  Egypt, 
and  thus  gained  a  knowledge  of  astronomy,  and 
added  something  to  his  learning  in  other  depart- 
ments. He  numbered  among  his  pupils  Isocrates, 
Lycurgus,  Aristotle,  and  Demosthenes  ;  and  for  eight 
years  Alexander  the  Great  was  the  pupil  of  Aristotle, 
while  Demosthenes 

"  Wielded  at  will  that  fierce  Democratic, 
Shook  the  arsenal,  and  fulmined  over  Greece 
To  Macedon,  and  Artaxerxes'  throne." 

Thus  we  trace  Demosthenes  and  Alexander,  the 
master  spirits  in  the  struggle  of  Grecian  independ- 
ence against  Macedonian  supremacy,  through  teach- 
ers and  culture  up  to  Socrates,  the  wanderer  in 
the  streets,  and  the  disturber  of  the  peace  of 
Athens. 

It  is  stated  that  a  distinguished  modern  phi- 
losopher often  says,  "  I  don't  know/'  when  the 
curiosity  or  science  of  his  pupils  suggests  ques- 
tions that  he  has  not  considered.  If  we  respect 
and  admire  the  wisdom  of  the  wise,  how  ought 
we  to  be  humbled,  intellectually,  by  the  reflec- 
tion that  the  unknown  far  exceeds  the  known, 
and  that  all  become  as  little  children  when  they 


176          The  High  School  System. 

enter  the  temple  of  the  sages  !  The  ancients  prized 
schools,  teachers,  and  learning,  because  they  were 
essential  to  wisdom ;  and  wisdom  enabled  them  to 
live  temperately,  justly,  and  happily,  in  the  present 
world  ;  while  we  prize  schools,  teachers,  and  learn- 
ing, because  they  contribute  to  what  we  call  success 
in  life.  The  population  of  New  England  is  com- 
posed of  skilful  artisans,  intelligent  merchants, 
shrewd  or  eloquent  lawyers,  industrious  and  intelli- 
gent farmers  ;  and  to  these  results  our  system  of 
education  is  too  exclusively  subservient.  These 
results  are  not  to  be  condemned,  nor  are  the  pro- 
cesses by  which  they  are  secured  to  be  neglected. 
But  our  schools  ought  to  do  something  always  and 
for  every  one,  for  the  full  development  of  a  character 
that  is  essential  to  artisans,  merchants,  lawyers,  or 
farmers.  Learning  should  not  be  prized  merely  as 
an  aid  to  the  daily  work  of  life,  —  though  this  it  prop- 
erly is  and  ever  ought  to  be,  — but  for  its  expansive 
power  in  the  mind  and  soul,  by  which  we  attain  to  a 
more  perfect  knowledge  of  things  human  and  divine. 
There  are  many  persons  who  accomplish  satisfac- 
torily the  tasks  assigned  them,  but  who  do  not 
always  comprehend  the  processes  of  life,  in  its 
political,  social,  literary,  scientific  and  industrial 
relations,  by  which  the  affairs  of  the  world  are 
guided. 


The  High  School  System.          177 

Something  of  this  is  due,  speaking  of  America, 
and  especially  of  New  England,  to  the  universal 
desire  to  be  engaged  in  active  business.  Young 
men  destined  for  the  farm  or  the  shop,  the  counting- 
house  or  the  store,  leave  home  and  school  so  early 
that  their  apprenticeship  is  ended  long  before  their 
majority  commences  ;  and  they  are  thus  prepared  to 
enter  early  and  vigorously  upon  the  business  of  life. 
This  course  has  its  advantages,  and  it  is  also  attended 
by  many  evils.  Our  youth  have  but  little  opportu- 
nity for  observation,  and  a  great  deal  of  time  for 
experience.  They  fall  into  mistakes  that  should 
have'  been  observed,  and  consequently  shunned. 
Moreover,  this  custom  tends  to  make  business  men 
too  exclusively  and  rigidly  technical  and  profes- 
sional ;  that  is,  in  plain  language,  speaking  relatively, 
they  know  too  much  of  their  own  vocation,  and  too 
little  of  everything  else.  Business  life  follows  so 
closely  upon  home  life  and  school  life,  that  the  les- 
sons of  the  latter  fail  to  exert  an  immediate  and  con- 
trolling influence,  and  it  is  often  only  in  maturer 
years  that  the  fruits  of  early  training  are  seen.  The 
connection  is  such  that  the  boy  or  youth  becomes 
a  devotee  of  business  before  he  is  developed  into 
complete  manhood.  This  is  movement,  but  not 
true  progress  ;  activity,  but  not  culture  ;  appropria- 
tion and  accumulation,  but  not  natural  development. 


178          The  High  School  System. 

This  peculiarity  is  less  prominent  in  England,  and  it 
is  hardly  known  in  the  central  states  of  Europe.  It 
is  to  some  extent  a  national,  and  especially  is  it  a 
New  England  characteristic.  It  is  a  manifestation 
of  the  forward  moving  spirit  of  our  people,  and  it  is 
also  at  once  a  promise  and  the  security  for  the 
ultimate  supremacy  of  the  American  race  and  nation 
in  the  affairs  of  the  world.  In  Athens  young  men 
attained  their  majority  when  they  were  sixteen  ; 
but  they  usually  prosecuted  their  studies  after- 
wards, and  Aristotle  thought  them  unfit  for  mar- 
riage until  they  were  thirty-seven  years  of  age. 
This  rule  was  observed  by  Aristotle  in  his  own  case  ; 
but  we  are  unable  to  say  whether  the  rule  was  made 
before  or  after  his  marriage,  which  is  a  fact  of  much 
importance  when  we  consider  the  wisdom  of  the 
precept,  and  the  real  principles  and  philosophy  of  its 
famous  author.  Moreover,  regardless  of  one-half 
of  creation,  he  has  neither  stated  the  age  at  which 
females  are  marriageable,  nor  given  us  that  of  his 
own  wife.  This  neglect  justly  detracts  from  his 
authority  ;  and  it  will  not  be  strange  if  young  men 
and  women  view  with  distrust  an  opinion  that  is  so 
manifestly  partial  and  one-sided.  If  schools  make 
merely  learned  people,  in  a  narrow  and  technical 
sense,  they  are  not  doing  their  whole  work.  Such 
learning  makes  an  efficient  population,  which  is  ccr- 


The  High  School  System.          179 

tainly  desirable  ;  but  it  ought  also  to  be  a  well- 
educated  population  in  a  broad,  comprehensive,  phi- 
losophic sense.  By  the  force  of  nature  and  the  devel- 
oping- influences  of  society,  including  the  church,  the 
school,  and  the  home,  we  ought  first  to  be  educated 
men  and  women,  and  then  apply  that  education  to 
the  particular  work  we  have  in  hand.  By  learning, 
in  this  connection,  I  do  not  mean  the  learning  of 
Agassiz  as  a  naturalist,  the  learning  of  Choate  as  a 
lawyer,  or  the  learning  of  Everett  as  an  orator  ;  but 
a  more  general  and  less  minute  culture,  by  which 
men  are  prepared  to  form  an  accurate  judgment 
upon  subjects  that  usually  attract  public  attention. 

In  the  gardens  of  the  wealthy,  we  often  see  peach- 
trees  and  pear-trees  trained  against  brick  or  stone 
walls,  to  which  they  are  attached  by  substantial 
thongs.  These  trees  are  carefully  and  systemati- 
cally trained,  and  they  are  trained  so  as  to  accom- 
plish certain  results.  They  present  a  large  surface, 
in  proportion  to  the  whole,  to  the  sun  and  air  ;  in 
addition  to  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun,  they  receive 
the  reflected  and  accumulated  heat  of  the  walls  to 
which  they  are  fastened  ;  and  they  furnish  ripe  fruit 
much  in  advance  of  trees  in  the  gardens  and  fields 
of  the  common  farmers.  Here  art  and  nature,  in 
brick  walls,  manure,  the  germinating  power  of  the 
peach  or  pear,  and  rigid  training  and  pruning,  have 


180          The  High  School  System. 

produced  very  good  machines  for  the  manufacture 
of  fruit ;  but  for  the  full-grown,  symmetrically  devel- 
oped tree,  or  even  for  the  choicest  fruit  in  its  season, 
we  must  look  elsewhere.  And  who  does  not  per- 
ceive, if  all  the  trees  of  the  gardens,  fields,  and  for- 
ests, were  treated  in  the  same  way,  that  the  world 
would  be  deprived  of  a  part  of  its  beauty  and  glory, 
and  that  many  species  of  trees  would  soon  become 
extinct  ?  Who  would  not  give  back  the  luscious 
pear  and  peach  to  their  native  acritude,  rather  than 
subject  the  highest  forms  of  vegetable  life  to  such 
irreverence  ?  And,  upon  reflection,  we  shall  say 
that  such  cruelty  to  inanimate  life  can  be  justified 
only  as  we  justify  the  naturalist  who  dexterously 
and  suddenly  extracts  a  vital  organ  from  a  reptile, 
that  he  may  observe  the  effect  upon  that  form  of 
animal  existence. 

But  the  tree  is  not  to  be  left  in  its  native  state. 
By  culture  its  growth  is  so  aided,  that  it  is  first 
and  always  a  tree  after  its  own  kind,  whether  it  be 
peach,  pear,  apple,  elm,  or  oak ;  at  once  ornamental 
and  graceful,  stately  or  majestic,  according  to  the 
germinating  principle  which  diffuses  itself  through 
each  individual  creation.  "For  the  earth  bringeth 
forth  fruit  of  herself;  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear, 
after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  So  in  the  human 
heart,  mind,  and  soul,  nature  bringeth  forth  fruit  of 


The  High  School  System.  181 

herself;  and  it  is  the  work  of  schools  and  teachers 
to  aid  nature  in  developing  a  full  and  attractive 
character,  that  shall  yield  fruit  while  all  its  powers 
are  enlarged  and  strengthened,  as  the  almond  in  the 
peach  is  not  only  more  luscious  in  its  fruit,  but  more 
graceful  in  its  branches.  Culture,  in  a  broad  sense, 
is  the  aid  rendered  to  each  individual  creation  in  its 
work  of  self-improvement.  It  is  not  a  noble  and  gen- 
erous culture  which  dwarfs  the  tree  that  early  ripened 
or  peculiarly  flavored  fruit  may  be  obtained  ;  and  it 
is  not  a  noble  and  generous  culture  of  the  child 
which  forces  into  unnatural  activity  certain  faculties 
or  powers  that  surprise  us  by  their  'precocity,  or 
excite  wonder  by  the  skill  exhibited  in  their  use. 
Rather  let  the  child  grow,  expand,  mature,  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  its  own  being,  giving  it  only  en 
couragement  and  example,  which  are  the  light  and 
air  of  mental  and  moral  life.  I  am  not  conscious 
that  any  one  has  given  us  a  philosophical,  logical 
system  of  development,  that  relates  to  the  physical, 
intellectual,  and  moral  character  ;  and  to-day  I  state 
the  educational  want  in  this  particular,  but  I  do  not 
attempt  to  supply  it.  Yet  in  nature  such  a  system 
there  must  be,  and  only  powers  of  observation  are 
needed  that  we  may  avail  ourselves  of  it.  And  in 
stating  this  want  more  particularly,  I  offer,  as  my 
first  suggestion,  the  opinion,  common  among  edu- 
16 


182  The  High  School  System. 

cators,  that,  speaking  generally  and  with  reference 
to  a  system,  we  have  no  physical  training  whatever. 
In  the  days  of  our  ancestors,  one  hundred  or  two 
hundred  years  ago,  this  training,  as  a  part  of  a  sys- 
tem of  education,  was  not  needed.  We  had  no  cities, 
and  but  few  large  towns.  Agriculture  and  the  ruder 
forms  of  mechanical  labor  were  the  chief  occupations 
of  the  people.  Populous  cities,  narrow  streets,  dark 
lanes,  cellar  habitations,  crowded  workshops,  over- 
filled and  over-heated  factories,  and  the  number  of 
sedentary  pursuits  that  tax  and  wear  and  destroy 
the  physical  powers,  and  undermine  the  moral  and 
mental,  were  unknown.  These  are  the  attendants 
of  our  civilization,  and  they  have  brought  a  melan- 
choly train  of  evils  with  them.  In  the  seventeenth 
century,  men  perished  from  exposure,  from  igno- 
rance of  the  laws  of  health,  from  the  prevalence  of 
malignant  diseases  that  defied  the  science  of  the 
times  ;  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  average  length 
of  human  life  was  not  greater  than  it  now  is.  At 
present,  there  IB  but  little  exposure  that  is  followed 
by  fatal  results  ;  malignant  diseases  are  deprived  of 
many  of  their  terrors  ;  rules  of  living,  founded  upon 
scientific  principles,  are  accessible  to  all  ;  and  yet 
we  daily  ni'-rt  young  men  and  women  who  arc  man- 
ifcHtly  unequal  to  the  lot  that  is  before  them.  In 
some  cases,  the  Bin  of  the  parent  is  visited  upon  the 


The  High  School  System.  183 

children,  and  the  measure  of  life  rneted  out  to  them 
is  limited  and  insufficient.  In  other  cases,  the  indi- 
viduals, first  yielding  in  their  own  persons,  are  the 
victims  of  positive  vice,  or  of  some  of  the  evils 
stated.  Civilization  is  not  an  unmixed  good  ;  and 
we  cannot  offer  to  the  city  or  the  factory  any  ade- 
quate compensation  for  the  loss  of  pure  water,  pure 
air,  and  the  healthful  exercise  of  body,  which  may  be 
enjoyed  in  the  country  villages  and  agricultural  dis- 
tricts of  the  state. 

Yet  even  in  cities  and  large  towns  the  culture  of 
home  and  school  should  diminish  these  evils  ;  and  it 
is  a  pleasure  to  believe  that  our  system  of  domestic 
and  public  education  is  doing  something  at  the 
present  moment  in  behalf  of  the  too  much  neglected 
body  ;  but  nowhere,  either"  in  city  or  country,  do 
we  observe  the  evidences  of  juvenile  health  and 
strength  that  a  friend  of  the  race  would  desire  to 
see.  And  it  is,  I  fear,  specially  true  of  schools,  and 
to  some  extent  it  is  true  of  teachers,  as  a  class,  that 
too  little  attention  is  given  to  those  exercises  and 
habits  which  secure  good  health.  There  are  many 
causes  which  tend  to  lower  the  average  health  and 
strength  of  our  people.  1st.  The  practice  of  send- 
ing children  to  school  at  the  tender  age  of  five,  four, 
or  even  three  years.  Every  school  necessarily  im- 
poses some  restraint  upon  the  pupils  ;  and  I  assume 


184          The  High  School  System. 

that  no  child  under  five  years  of  age  should  be  sub- 
ject to  such  restraints.  But  the  education  of  the 
child  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  neglected.  Parents, 
brothers  and  sisters,  may  all  do  something  for  the 
young  inquirer  ;  but  he  should  never  have  lessons 
imposed,  nor  be  subject  to  the  rules  of  a  school  of 
any  description.  The  moment  of  his  admission 
must  be  determined  by  circumstances,  and  the  force 
of  the  circumstances  must  be  judged  of  by  parents. 
If  a  child  is  blessed  with  kind,  considerate,  intel- 
ligent parents,  the  first  eight  years  of  his  life  can 
be  spent  nowhere  else  as  profitably  as  at  home. 
The  true  mother  is  the  model  teacher.  No  other 
person  can  ever  acquire  the  control  over  her  off- 
spring that  is  her  own  rightful  possession.  When 
she  neglects  the  trust  confided  to  her,  she  is  guilty 
of  a  serious  wrong ;  and  when  she  transfers  it  to 
another,  she  takes  upon  herself  a  greater  responsi- 
bility than  she  yields  up.  The  instinctive  judgment 
of  the  world  cannot  be  an  erroneous  judgment.  The 
mother  has  always,  to  a  great  extent,  been  made 
responsible  for  the  child ;  and  the  honor  of  his  vir- 
tues or  the  disgrace  of  his  crimes  has  been  traced 
through  him  to  her. 

2dly.  Some  portion  of  every  school-day  should  be 
systematically  and  strictly  devoted  to  recreation, 
physical  exercise  and  manual  labor ;  and  the  hours 


The  High  School  System.          185 

given  to  study  ought  to  be  defined  and  limited. 
Some  persons  say,  "Let  a  child  study  as  much  as 
he  will,  there  is  time  enough  to  play."  This  may  be 
generally  true,  but  it  is  act  universally  so.  I  can- 
not but  think  that  the  practice  of  assigning  lessons 
and  giving  the  pupil  the  free  use  of  the  four-and- 
twenty  hours  is  a  bad  practice.  Would  it  not  be  bet- 
ter to  give  to  each  pupil  certain  hours  for  study  ?  — 
assign  him  lessons,  by  topics  if  possible,  allow  him 
to  do  what  he  can  in  the  allotted  time,  and  then 
prohibit  the  appropriation  of  an  additional  minute  ? 
Why  should  a  dull  scholar,  or  one  who  has  but  little 
taste  or  talent  for  a  given  study,  be  required  to  plod 
twelve,  sixteen,  or  eighteen  hours  at  unwelcome 
tasks,  while  another  more  favored  disposes  of  his 
work  in  six  ?  Why  should  a  pupil,  who  is  laboring 
under  some  mental  or  physical  debility,  be  required 
to  apply  his  mind  unceasingly  when  he  most  needs 
rest  and  recreation  ?  Why  should  the  pages  of  a 
spelling-book,  grammar,  geography,  or  arithmetic, 
be  the  measure  of  each  pupil's  capacity?  Lessons 
are  to  be  assigned,  not  necessarily  to  be  mastered 
by  the  pupil,  though  they  should  have  just  reference 
to  his  capacity,  but  as  the  subject  of  his  studies  for 
a  given  period  of  time.  The  pupil  should  be  respons- 
ible for  nothing  but  the  proper  use  of  that  time. 
Two  advantages  might  result  from  this  practice. 
16* 


186          The  High  School  System. 

First,  the  pupil  would  acquire  the  habit  of  perform- 
ing the  greatest  amount  of  labor  possible  in  the 
given  time  ;  and,  secondly,  he  would  naturally 
throw  off  all  care  for  bqpks  and  school  when  the 
hour  for  relaxation  arrived.  If  particular  studies 
are  assigned  to  specified  hours,  the  pupil  must 
master  his  thoughts,  and  give  them  the  required 
direction.  This  in  itself  is  a  great  achievement.  I 
put  it,  in  practical  value,  before  any  of  the  studies 
that  are  taught  and  learned  in  the  schools.  The 
danger  to  which  pupils  are  often  exposed,  in  this 
connection,  is  quite  apparent.  A  lesson  is  assigned 
for  a  succeeding  day.  The  attention  is  not  immedi- 
ately fixed  upon  it.  One  hour  passes,  and  then  an- 
other. Nothing  is  accomplished,  yet  the  pupil  is 
continually  oppressed  by  the  consciousness  of  duty 
unperformed,  and  the  result  is,  that  he  neither  does 
what  he  ought  to  do,  nor  does  anything  else. 
Would  it  not  be  better  to  measure  and  assign  his 
time,  and  then  require  him  to  abandon  all  thought 
of  the  matter  ?  This  practice  might  give  our  people 
the  faculty  and  the  habit  of  throwing  off  cares  and 
occupations,  when  they  leave  the  scenes  of  them. 
It  is  a  just  criticism  upon  American  character,  that 
our  business  men  cany  their  occupations  with  them 
wherever  they  go.  I  should  put  high  up  among  the 
elements  of  worldly  success  the  ability  to  give  assid- 


The  High  School  System.  187 

uously,  studiously  and  devotedly,  the  necessary  time 
to  a  subject  of  business,  and  then  to  throw  off  all 
thought  of  it.  There  can  be  no  peace  of  mind  for 
the  business  man  who  does  not  possess  this  quality  ; 
and  I  think  it  will  contribute  essentially  to  a  long- 
life  and  a  quiet  old  age.  No  wise  man  ever  attempts 
more  than  one  thing  at  a  time  ;  and  the  man  who 
attempts  to  do  more  than  one  thing  at  a  time  has 
no  security  that  he  can  do  anything  well.  The 
statements  of  biography  and  history,  that  Napoleon 
was  accustomed  to  do  several  things  at  once,  rest 
upon  a  misconception  of  the  operations  of  the  human 
mind..  His  facility  for  the  direction  and  transaction 
of  business  depended  upon  the  quality  I  am  now 
considering.  He  had  the  faculty  of  giving  his  atten- 
tion, undivided  and  strongly  fixed,  to  a  subject  for 
an  hour,  half-hour,  minute,  half-minute,  or  second, 
and  then  of  dismissing  the  matter  altogether,  and 
directing  his  thoughts,  without  loss  of  time,  to  what- 
ever next  might  be  presented.  One  thing  at  a  time 
is  a  law  which  no  finite  power  can  violate  ;  and  abil- 
ity in  execution  depends  upon  the  ability  to  concen- 
trate all  the  powers  of  the  mind,  at  a  given  moment, 
upon  the  assigned  topic,  and  then  to  change,  without 
friction  or  loss  of  time,  to  something  else. 

This  institution   is  a  high  school,  and  the  ques- 
tion is  now  agitated,  especially  in  the  State  of  Con- 


188          The  High  School  System. 

necticut,  "How  can  the  advantages  of  a  high-school 
education  be  best  secured  ?  "  This  question  I  pro- 
pose to  consider.  And,  first,  the  high  school  must 
be  a  public  school.  A  public  school  I  understand  to 
be  a  school  established  by  the  public,  —  supported 
chiefly  or  entirely  by  the  public,  controlled  by  the 
public,  and  accessible  to  the  public  upon  terms  of 
equality,  without  special  charge  for  tuition. 

Private  schools  may  be  established  and  controlled 
by  an  individual,  or  by  an  association  of  individuals, 
who  have  no  corporate  rights  under  the  government, 
but  receive  pupils  upon  terms  agreed  upon,  subject 
to  the  ordinary  laws  of  the  land. 

Private  schools  may  be  founded  also  by  one  or 
more  persons,  and  by  them  endowed  with  funds,  for 
their  partial  or  entire  support.  In  such  cases,  the 
founder,  through  the  money  given,  has  the  right  to 
prescribe  the  rules  by  which  the  school  shall  be  con- 
trolled, and  also  to  provide  for  the  appointment  of 
its  managers  or  trustees  through  all  time.  In  such 
cases,  corporate  powers  are  usually  granted  by  the 
government  for  the  management  of  the  business.  But 
the  chief  rights  of  such  an  institution  are  derived 
from  the  founder,  and  the  facilities  for  their  easy  ex- 
ercise and  quiet  enjoyment  are  derived  from  the  state. 

Such  schools  are  sometimes,  upon  a  superficial 
view,  supposed  to  be  public,  because  they  receive 


The  High  School  System.  189 

pupils  upon  terms  of  equality,  and  no  rule  of  exclu- 
sion exists  which  does  not  apply  to  all.  And  espe- 
cially has  it  been  assumed  that  a  free  school  thus 
founded,  as  the  Norwich  Free  Academy,  which 
makes  no  charges  for  tuition,  and  is  open  to  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  city,  is  therefore  a  public  school. 
These  institutions  are  public  in  their  use,  but  not  in 
their  foundation  or  control,  and  are  therefore  not 
public  schools.  The  character  of  a  school,  as  of 
any  eleemosynary  institution,  is  derived  from  the 
will  of  the  founder  ;  and  when  the  beneficial  founder 
is  an  individual,  or  a  number  of  individuals  less  than 
the  whole  political  organization  of  which  the  indi- 
viduals are  a  part,  the  institution  is  private,  what- 
ever the  rules  for  its  enjoyment  may  be.  To  say 
that  a  school  is  a  public  school  because  it  receives 
pupils  free  of  charge  for  tuition,  or  because  it  re- 
ceives them  upon  conditions  that  are  applied  alike 
to  all,  is  to  deny  that  there  are  any  private  schools, 
for  all  come  within  the  definition  thus  laid  down. 

Nor  is  there  any  good  reasoning  in  the  statement 
that  a  school  is  public  because  it  receives  pupils 
from  a  large  extent  of  country.  Dartmouth  College 
is  a  private  school,  though  its  pupils  come  from  all 
the  land  or  all  the  world  ;  while  the  Boston  Latin 
School  is  a  public  school,  though  it  receives  those 
pupils  only  whose  homes  are  within  the  limits  of  the 


190  The  High  School  System. 

city.  The  first  is  a  private  school,  because  it  was 
founded  by  President  Wheelock,  and  has  been  con- 
trolled by  him  and  his  successors,  holding  and  gov- 
erning and  enjoying  through  him,  from  the  first 
until  now  ;  while  the  Boston  Latin  School  is  a  pub- 
lic school,  because  it  was  established  by  the  city  of 
Boston,  through  the  votes  of  its  inhabitants,  under 
the  laws  of  the  state,  and  is  at  all  times  subject,  in 
its  government  and  existence,  to  the  popular  will 
which  created  it.  When  we  speak  of  the  public  we 
do  not  necessarily  mean  the  world,  nor  the  nation,  nor 
even  the  state  ;  but  the  word  public,  in  a  legal  sense, 
may  stand  for  any  legal  political  organization,  ter- 
ritorially defined,  and  intrusted  in  any  degree  with 
the  administration  of  its  own  affairs.  And  the  pub- 
lic character  of  a  particular  school,  as  the  Boston 
Latin  School,  for  example,  may  be  determined  by  a 
process  of  reasoning  quite  independent  of  that 
already  presented.  The  State  of  Massachusetts,  a 
complete  sovereignty  in  itself,  has  provided  by  her 
constitution  and  laws,  which  are  the  expressed  judg- 
ment of  her  people,  for  the  establishment  of  a  system 
of  public  schools,  through  the  agency  and  action  of 
the  respective  cities  and  towns  of  the  common- 
wealth. These  towns  and  cities,  under  the  laws, 
set  up  the  schools  ;  and  of  course  each  school  par- 
takes of  the  public  character  which  the  action  of  the 


The  High  School  System.          191 

state,  followed  by  the  corporate  public  action  of  the 
city  or  town,  has  given  to  it.  Thus  it  is  seen  that 
our  public  schools  answer  to  the  requirement  already 
stated.  They  are  established  by  the  public,  sup- 
ported chiefly  or  entirely  by  the  public,  controlled 
by  the  public,  and  accessible  to  the  public  upon 
terms  of  equality,  without  special  charge  for  tuition. 
Nor  is  the  public  character  of  a  school  changed  by 
the  fact  that  private  citizens  may  have  contributed 
to  its  maintenance,  if  such  contributors  do  not 
assume  to  stand  in  the  relation  of  founders.  It  is 
well  understood  that  the  beneficial  founder  of  a 
school  is  he  who  makes  the  first  gift  or  bequest  to 
it,  and  the  legal  founder  is  the  government  which 
grants  a  charter,  or  in  any  way  confers  upon  it  a 
corporate  existence.  If  a  town  establish  a  high 
school,  as  in  Bernardston  to-day,  and  accept  a 
gift  or  bequest,  the  character  of  the  school  is  not 
changed  thereby.  Mr.  Powers  did  not  attempt  to 
establish  a  new  school.  He  gave  the  income  of  ten 
thousand  dollars  for  the  aid  of  schools  then  existing, 
and  for  the  aid  of  a  school  whose  existence  was 
already  contemplated  by  the  laws  of  the  state.  No 
change  has  been  wrought  in  your  institutions  ; 
they  are  still  public,  —  your  generous  testator  has 
only  contributed  to  their  support.  And,  in  consider- 
ing yet  further  the  question,  "  How  can  the  advan- 


192          The  High  School  System. 

tages  of  a  high-school  education  be  best  secured  ?" 
I  shall  proceed  to  compare,  with  what  brevity  I  can 
command,  the  public  high  school  with  the  free  high 
school  or  academy  upon  a  private  foundation.  My 
reasoning  is  general,  and  the  argument  does  not 
apply  to  all  the  circumstances  of  society.  It  is  not 
everywhere  possible  to  establish  a  public  high 
school.  In  some  cases  the  population  may  not  be 
sufficient,  in  others  there  may  not  be  adequate 
wealth,  and  in  others  there  may  not  be  an  elevated 
public  sentiment  equal  to  the  emergency.  In  such 
circumstances,  those  who  desire  education  must  ob- 
tain it  in  the  best  manner  possible  ;  and  academies, 
whether  free  or  not,  and  private  schools,  whether 
endowed  or  not,  should  be  thankfully  accepted  and 
encouraged.  Nor  will  high  schools  meet  all  the 
wants  of  society.  There  must  always  be  a  place 
for  classical  schools,  scientific  schools,  professional 
schools,  which,  in  their  respective  courses  of  study, 
either  anticipate  or  follow,  in  the  career  of  the  stu 
dent,  his  four  years  of  college  life.  With  these  con- 
ditions and  limitations  stated,  the  .point  I  seek  to 
establish  is  that  a  public  high  school  can  do  the 
work  usually  done  in  such  institutions  more  faith- 
fully, thoroughly,  and  economically,  than  it  can  be 
done  anywhere  else. 

1st.   Tho  supervision  of  (ho  public  school  is  more 


The  High  School  System.  193 

responsible,  and  consequently  more  perfect.  In  pri- 
vate schools,  academies  and  free  high  schools  which 
are  endowed,  there  is  a  board  of  trustees,  who  per- 
petuate, as  a  corporation,  their  own  existence.  Each 
member  is  elected  for  life,  and  he  is  not  only  not 
responsible  to  the  public,  but  he  is  not  even  respons- 
ible, except  in  extraordinary  cases,  to  his  associates. 
Responsibility  is,  in  all  governments,  the  security 
taken  for  fidelity.  The  election  of  representatives, 
in  the  state  or  national  legislature,  for  life,  would  be 
esteemed  a  great  and  dangerous  innovation. 

It  may  be  said  that  boards  of  trustees  are  usually 
better  qualified  to  manage  a  school  than  the  com- 
mittees elected  by  the  respective  cities  and  towns. 
Judged  as  individuals,  this  is  probably  true  ;  though 
upon  this  point  I  prefer  to  admit  a  claim  rather  than 
to  express  an  opinion.  But  positively  incompetent 
school  committees  are  the  exception  in  Massachu- 
setts ;  usually  the  people  make  the  selection  from 
their  best'  men.  But  in  the  public  school  you  get 
the  immediate,  direct  supervision  of  the  public.  Not 
merely  in  the  election  of  committees,  but  in  a  daily 
interest  and  vigilance  whose  results  are  freely  dis- 
closed to  the  superintending  committee,  as  every 
inhabitant  feels  that  his  contribution,  as  a  tax-payer, 
gives  him  the  right  to  judge  the  character  of  the 
school,  and  makes  it  his  duty  to  report  its  defects  to 


194  The  High  School  System. 

those  charged  with  its  management.  The  real  de- 
fects of  a  school,  especially  of  a  high  school,  will  be 
first  discovered  by  pupils ;  and  they  are  likely  to 
roport  these  defects  to  their  parents.  In  the  case 
of  the  endowed  private  school,  the  parent  feels  that 
he  buys  whatever  the  trustees  have  to  sell,  or  takes 
as  a  gift  whatever  they  have  to  offer  free ;  and  he 
does  not,  logically  nor  as  a  matter  of  fact,  infer  from 
cither  of  these  relations  his  right  to  participate 
in  the  government  of  the  school.  In  one  case  you 
have  the  observation,  the  judgment,  the  supervision, 
of  the  whole  community ;  in  the  other  case  you  have 
the  learning  and  judgment  of  five,  seven,  ten,  or 
twelve  men. 

2dly.  The  faithfulness  of  the  teacher  is  very  much 
dependent  upon  the  supervision  to  which  he  is  sub- 
ject. This  is  only  saying  that  the  teacher  is  human. 
In  the  public  school  there  is  no  motive  which  can 
influence  a  reasonable  man  that  would  lead  him  to 
swerve  in  the  least  from  his  fidelity  to  the  interest 
of  the  school  as  a  whole.  No  partiality  to  a  partic- 
ular individual,  no  desire  to  promulgate  a  special 
idea,  can  ever  stand  in  the  place  of  that  public  sup- 
port which  is  best  secured  by  a  just  performance  of 
his  duties.  In  the  private  school,  with  a  self-perpet- 
uating board  of  trustees,  the  temptation  is  strong  to 
make  the  organization  subservient  to  some  opinion 


The  High  School  System.          195 

in  politics,  religion,  or  social  life.  This  may  not 
always  be  done  ;  but  in  many  cases  it  has  been  done, 
and  there  is  no  reason  to  expect  different  things  in 
the  future.  I  concur,  then,  unreservedly  in  the  judg- 
ment which  has  placed  this  institution,  in  all  its 
interests  and  in  all  its  duties,  under  the  control  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Bernardston.  When  they  who 
live  in  its  light  and  enjoy  its  benefits  cease  to  re- 
spect it,  when  they  to  whom  it  is  specially  dedicated 
cease  to  love  and  cherish  it,  it  will  no  longer  be 
entitled  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  a  more 
extended  public  sentiment.  As  all  trustworthy 
national  patriotism  must  be  built  on  love  for  state, 
town,  and  home,  so  every  school  ought  to  esteem  its 
power  for  usefulness  in  its  own  neighborhood  its 
chief  means  of  good. 

It  will  naturally  be  inferred,  from  the  remarks 
made  upon  the  singleness  of  purpose  and  fidelity  of 
the  public  school  to  the  cause  of  education,  that  the 
instruction  given  in  it  is  more  thorough  than  is  usu- 
ally given  in  the  private  school.  But,  in  examining 
yet  further  the  claim  of  the  public  school  to  superior 
thoroughness,  I  must  assume  that  it  enjoys  the  ad- 
vantages of  comfortable  rooms,  adequate  apparatus 
and  competent  teachers.  And  this  assumption  ought 
to  be  supported  by  the  facts.  There  is  no  good  rea- 
son why  any  town  in  Massachusetts  should  be  negli- 


196  The  High  School  System. 

gent  or  parsimonious  in  these  particulars.  True 
economy  requires  liberal  appropriations.  With  these 
appropriations,  the  best  teachers,  even  from  private 
schools  and  academies,  can  be  secured,  and  all  the 
aids  and  encouragements  to  liberal  culture  can  be 
provided.  Is  it  possible  that  any  of  the  means  of  a 
common-school  education  are  necessarily  denied  to  a 
million  and  a  quarter  of  industrious  people,  who 
already  possess  an  aggregate  capital  of  seven  or 
eight  hundred  millions  of  dollars  ?  But  the  charac- 
ter of  a  high  school  must  always  depend  materially 
upon  the  previous  training  of  the  pupils,  and  the 
qualifications  required  for  admission.  When  the 
high  school  is  a  public  school,  the  studies  of  the  pri- 
mary and  grammar  or  district  schools  are  arranged 
with  regard  to  the  system  as  a  system.  There  is  no 
inducement  to  admit  a  pupil  for  the  sake  of  the  tui- 
tion fees,  or  for  the  purpose  of  adding:  to  the  number 
of  scholars.  The  applicant  is  judged  by  his  merits 
as  a  scholar ;  and  where  there  is  a  wise  public  senti- 
ment, the  committee  will  be  sustained  in  the  execu- 
tion of  just  rules. 

In  the  public  high  school  we  avoid  a  difficulty  that 
is  almost  universal  in  academies  and  private  schools 
—  the  presence  of  pupils  whose  attainments  are  so 
various  that  by  a  proper  classification  they  would  bo 
assigned  to  two,  if  not  to  three  grades,  where  tho 


The  High  School  System.  197 

graded  system  exists.  The  vigilance,  industry  and 
fidelity  of  teachers,  cannot  overcome  this  evil.  The 
instruction  given  is  inevitably  less  systematic  and 
thorough.  The  character  which  the  high  school, 
whether  public  or  private,  presents,  is  not  its  own 
character  merely  ;  it  reflects  the  qualities  and  pecu- 
liarities of  the  schools  below.  It  follows,  then,  that 
the  attention  of  the  public  should  be  as  much  direct- 
ed to  the  primary  and  grammar  or  district  schools 
as  to  the  high  school  itself.  Of  course,  it  ought  not 
to  be  assumed  that  the  existence  of  a  high  school 
will  warrant  any  abatement  of  appropriations  for  the 
lower  grades  ;  indeed,  the  interest  and  resources  of 
these  schools  ought  continually  to  increase. 

Nor  can  it  be  assumed  that  your  contributions  to 
the  cause  of  education  will  be  diminished  by  the 
bequest  of  your  generous  testator.  He  did  not  seek 
to  lessen  your  burdens,  but  to  add  to  the  means  of 
education  among  you. 

There  is  also  an  inherent  power  of  discipline  in  the 
public  schools,  where  they  are  graded  and  a  system 
of  examinations  exists,  that  is  not  found  elsewhere. 
Neither  the  pupil  nor  the  parent  is  viewed  by  the 
teacher  in  the  light  of  a  patron  ;  hence,  he  seeks 
only  to  so  conduct  his  school  as  to  meet  the 
public  requirement.  Moreover,  as  admission  to  u 
high  school  can  be  secured  by  merit  only,  the  results 


198          The  High  School  System. 

of  the  preliminary  training  must  have  been  such  as 
to  create  a  reasonable  presumption  in  favor  of  the 
applicant,  mentally  and  morally.  Hence,  the  public 
schools  are  filled  by  youth  who  are  there  as  the  re- 
ward of  individual,  personal  merit.  Practically,  the 
motive  by  which  the  pupils  are  animated  has  much 
to  do  with  their  success.  If  they  are  moved  by  a 
love  for  learning,  they  attain  the  object  of  their  de- 
sires even  without  the  aid  of  teachers  ;  but  where 
they  are  aided  and  encouraged  by  faithful  teachers, 
the  school  is  soon  under  the  control  of  a  public  sen- 
timent which  secures  the  end  in  view. 

This  public  sentiment  is  not  as  easily  built  up  in  a 
private  school ;  for,  in  the  nature  of  things,  some 
pupils  will  find  their  way  there  who  are  not  true  dis- 
ciples of  learning ;  and  such  persons  are  obstacles 
to  general  progress,  while  they  advance  but  little 
themselves. 

And,  gentlemen  trustees  and  citizens  of  Bernards- 
ton,  may  I  not  personally  and  especially  invite  you 
to  consider  the  importance  of  a  fixed  standard  of 
admission  and  a  careful  examination  of  candidates  ? 
This  course  is  essential  to  the  improvement  of  your 
district  and  village  schools.  It  is  essential  to  tho 
true  prosperity  of  this  seminary,  and  it  is  also  essen- 
tial to  the  intellectual  advancement  of  the  people 
within  your  influence.  You  expect  pupils  from  the 


The  High  School  System.  199 

neighboring  towns.  Your  object  is  not  pecuniary 
profit,  but  the  education  of  the  people.  If  your  re- 
quirements are  positive,  though  it  may  not  be  diffi- 
cult to  meet  them  in  the  beginning,  every  town  that 
depends  upon  this  institution  for  better  learning 
than  it  can  furnish  at  home  will  be  compelled  to 
maintain  schools  of  a  high  order.  On  the  other  hand, 
negligence  in  this  particular  will  not  only  degrade 
the  school  under  your  care  here,  but  the  schools  in 
this  town  and  the  cause  of  education  in  the  vicinity 
will  be  unfavorably  affected.  Nor  let  the  objection 
that  a  rigid  standard  of  qualifications  will  exclude 
many  pupils,  and  diminish  the  attendance  upon  the 
school,  have  great  weight ;  for  you  perform  but  half 
your  duty  when  you  provide  the  means  of  a  good 
education  for  your  own  students.  You  are  also, 
through  the  power  inherent  in  this  authority,  to  do 
something  to  elevate  the  standard  of  learning  in 
other  schools,  and  in  the  country  around.  What 
harm  if  this  school  be  small,  while  by  its  influence 
other  schools  are  made  better,  and  thus  every  boy 
and  girl  in  the  vicinity  has  richer  means  of  education 
than  could  otherwise  have  been  secured  ?  Thus  will 
tens,  and  hundreds,  and  thousands,  of  successive 
generations,  have  cause  to  bless  this  school,  though 
they  may  never  have  sat  under  its  teachers,  or  been 
within  its  walls. 


200          The  High  School  System. 

In  a  system  of  public  schools,  everything  may  be 
had  at  its  prime  cost.  There  need  be  no  waste  of 
money,  or  of  the  time  or  power  of  teachers.  As  the 
public  system  must  everywhere  exist,  it  is  a  matter  of 
economy  to  bring  all  the  children  under  its  influence. 
The  private  system  never  can  educate  all ;  therefore 
the  public  system  cannot  be  abandoned,  unless  we 
consent  to  give  up  a  part  of  the  population  to  igno- 
rance. It  may,  then,  be  said  that  the  private  schools, 
essential  in  many  cases,  ought  to  give  way  when- 
ever the  public  schools  are  prepared  to  do  the  work  ; 
and  when  the  public  schools  are  so  prepared,  the 
existence  of  private  schools  adds  their  own  cost  to 
the  necessary  cost  of  popular  education. 

But  we  are  not  to  encourage  parsimony  in  educa- 
tion ;  for  parsimony  in  this  department  is  not  true 
economy.  It  is  true  economy  for  the  state  and  for  a 
town  to  set  up  and  maintain  good  schools  as 
cheaply  as  they  can  be  had,  yet  at  any  necessary 
cost,  BO  only  that  they  be  good.  Massachusetts  is 
prosperous  and  wealthy  to-day,  respected  in  evil  re- 
port as  well  as  in  good,  because,  faithful  to  principle 
and  persistent  in  courage,  she  has  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years  provided  for  the  education  of  her 
children  ;  and  now  the  re-flowing  tide  of  her  wealth 
from  seaboard  and  cities  will  bear  on  its  wave  to 
these  quiet  valleys  and  pleasant  hill-sides  the  lovers 


The  High  School  System.          201 

of  agriculture,  friends  of  art,  students  of  science,  and 
such  as  worship  rural  scenes  and  indulge  in  rural 
sports  ;  but  the  favored  and  first-sought  spots  will 
be  those  where  learning  has  already  chosen  her  seat, 
and  offers  to  manhood  and  age  the  culture  and 
society  which  learning  only  can  give,  and  to  child- 
hood and  youth,  over  and  above  the  training  of  the 
best  schools,  healthful  moral  influences,  and  ele- 
ments of  physical  growth  and  vigor,  which  ever  dis- 
tinguish life  in  the  country  and  among  the  moun- 
tains from  life  in  the  city  or  on  the  plain.  And 
over  a  broader  field  and  upon  a  larger  sphere  shall 
the  benignant  influence  of  this  system  of  public  in- 
struction be  felt.  In  the  affairs  of  this  great  repub- 
lic, the  power  of  a  state  is  not  to  be  measured  by  the 
number  of  its  votes  in  Congress.  Public  opinion  is 
mightier  than  Congress  ;  and  they  who  wield  or  con- 
trol that  do,  in  reality,  bear  rule.  Power  in  the 
world,  upon  a  large  view,  and  in  the  light  of  history, 
has  not  been  confided  to  the  majorities  of  men. 
Greece,  unimportant  in  extent  of  territory,  a  penin- 
sula and  archipelago  in  the  sea,  led  the  way  in  the 
civilization  of  the  west,  and,  through  her  eloquence, 
poetry,  history  and  art,  became  the  model  of  mod- 
ern culture.  Rome,  a  single  city  in  Italy,  that 
stretches  itself  into  the  sea  as  though  it  would  gaze 
upon  three  continents,  subjugated  to  her  sway  the 


202          The  High  School  System. 

savage  and  civilized  world,  and  impressed  her  arms 
and  jurisprudence  upon  all  succeeding  times  ;  then 
Venice,  without  a  single  foot  of  solid  land,  guarded 
inviolate  the  treasure  of  her  sovereignty  for  thirteen 
hundred  years  against  the  armies  of  the  East  and 
the  West ;  while,  in  our  own  time,  England,  unim- 
portant in  the  extent  of  her  insular  territory,  has 
been  able,  by  the  intelligence  and  enterprise  of  her 
people,  to  make  herself  mistress  of  the  seas,  arbiter 
of  the  fortunes  of  Europe,  and  the  ruler  of  a  hundred 
millions  of  people  in  Asia. 

These  things  have  happened  in  obedience  to  a  law 
which  knows  no  change.  Power  in  America  is  with 
those  who  can  bring  the  greatest  intellectual  and 
moral  force  to  bear  upon  a  given  point.  And  Mas- 
sachusetts, limited  in  the  extent  of  her  territory, 
without  salubrity  of  climate,  fertility  of  soil,  or  wealth 
of  mines,  will  have  influence,  through  her  people  at 
home  and  her  people  abroad,  proportionate  to  her 
fidelity  to  the  cause  of  universal  public  education. 


NORMAL  SCHOOL  TRAINING. 

[An  Address  delivered  at  the  Dedication  of  the  State  Normal  School,  at  Salem.] 

THE  human  race  may  be  divided  into  two  classes. 
One  has  no  ideal  of  a  future  different  from  the 
present ;  or,  if  it  is  not  always  satisfied  with  this 
view,  it  has  yet  had  no  clear  conception  of  a  higher 
existence. 

The  other  class  is  conscious  of  the  power  of  prog- 
ress, is  making  continual  advances,  and  has  an  ideal 
of  a  future  such  as,  in  its  judgment,  the  present 
ought  to  be.  Both  of  these  classes  have  institu- 
tions ;  for  institutions  are  not  the  product  of  civiliza- 
tion, as  they  exist  wherever  our  social  nature  is 
developed.  Man  is  also  a  dependent  being,  and  he 
therefore  seeks  the  company,  counsel  and  support 
of  his  fellows.  From  the  right  of  numbers  to  act 
comes  the  necessity  of  agreement,  or  at  least  so 
much  concurrence  in  what  is  to  be  done  as  to  secure 
the  object  sought.  The  will  of  numbers  can  only  be 
expressed  through  agencies ;  and  these,  however 
simple,  are  indeed  institutions  —  the  evidence  of  civ- 
ilization, rather  than  its  product.  They  are  always 

(203) 


204  Normal  School  Training. 

the  sign,  symbol,  or  language,  by  which  the  living 
man  expresses  the  purpose  of  his  life.  Therefore, 
institutions  differ,  as  the  purposes  of  men  vary. 

The  savage  and  the  man  of  culture  do  not  seek 
the  same  end  ;  hence  they  will  not  employ  the  same 
means. 

The  institutions  of  the  savage  are  those  of  the 
family,  clan,  or  tribe,  to  which  he  belongs.  There 
the  child  is  instructed  in  the  art  of  dress,  in  manners 
and  language,  in  the  rude  customs  of  agriculture, 
the  chase,  and  war.  This  with  him  is  life,  and  the 
history  of  one  generation  is  often  the  history  of 
many  generations.  Their  ideal  corresponds  with 
their  actual  life ;  and,  as  a  necessary  result,  there  is 
little  or  no  progress. 

But  the  other  class  establishes  institutions  which 
indicate  the  existence  of  new  relations,  and  exact 
the  performance  of  new  duties.  As  man  is  a  social 
being,  he  necessarily  creates  institutions  of  govern- 
ment and  education  corresponding  to  the  sphere  in 
which  he  is  to  act.  If  a  nation  desires  to  educate 
only  a  part  of  its  people,  its  institutions  are  naturally 
exclusive  ;  but  wherever  the  idea  of  universal  educa- 
tion has  been  received,  the  institutions  of  the  coun- 
try look  to  that  end. 

When  Massachusetts  was  settled  there  were  no 
truly  popular  institutions  in  tho  world .  for  there  was 


Normal  School  Training.  205 

really  no  belief  in  popular  rights.  And  why  should 
those  be  encouraged  to  think  who  have  no  right  to 
act  ?  The  principle  that  every  man  is  to  take  a  part 
in  the  affairs  of  the  community  or  state  to  which 
he  belongs  seems  to  be  the  foundation  of  the  doc- 
trine that  every  man  should  be  educated  to  think  for 
himself.  Free  schools  and  general  education  are  the 
natural  results  of  the  principles  of  human  equality, 
which  distinguish  the  people  and  political  systems 
of  America. 

The  purposes  of  a  people  are  changeable  and 
changing,  but  institutions  are  inflexible  ;  therefore 
these  latter  often  outlast  the  ideas  in  which  they 
originated,  or  the  ideas  may  be  acting  in  other 
bodies  or  forms.  Institutions  are  the  visible  forms 
of  ideas,  but  they  are  useful  only  while  those  ideas 
are  living  in  the  minds  of  men.  If  an  institution 
is  suffered  to  remain  after  the  idea  has  passed 
away,  it  embarrasses  rather  than  aids  an  advanc- 
ing people.  Such  are  monastic  establishments  in 
Protestant  countries  ;  such  is  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, as  an  institution  of  religion  and  government,  to 
all  classes  of  dissenters  ;  such  are  many  seminaries 
of  learning  in  Europe,  and  some  in  America. 

Massachusetts  has  had  one  living  idea,  from  the 
first, — that  general  intelligence  is  necessary  to  pop- 
ular virtue  and  liberty.  This  idea  she  has  expressed 
18 


206  Normal  School  Training. 

in  various  ways  ;  the  end  it  promises  she  has 
sought  by  various  means.  In  obedience  to  this 
idea,  she  has  established  colleges,  common  schools, 
grammar  schools,  academies,  and  at  last  the  Normal 
School. 

The  institution  only  of  the  Normal  School  is  new  ; 
the  idea  is  old.  The  Normal  system  is  but  a  better 
expression  of  an  idea  partially  concealed,  but  never- 
theless to  be  found  in  the  college,  grammar  school 
and  academy  of  our  fathers.  Nor  have  we  accepted 
the  institution  so  readily  from  a  knowledge  of  its 
results  in  other  countries,  as  from  its  manifest  fitness 
to  meet  a  want  here.  It  is  not,  then,  our  fortune  to 
inaugurate  a  new  idea,  but  only  to  clothe  an  old  one 
again,  so  that  it  may  more  efficiently  advance  popu- 
lar liberty,  intelligence  and  virtue.  And  this  is  our 
duty  to-day. 

The  proprieties  of  this  occasion  would  have  been 
better  observed,  had  his  excellency,  Governor  Wash- 
burn,  found  it  convenient  to  deliver  the  address, 
which,  at  a  late  moment,  has  been  assigned  to  me. 
But  we  are  all  in  some  degree  aware  of  the  nature 
and  extent  of  his  public  duties,  and  can,  therefore, 
appreciate  the  necessity  which  demands  relief  from 
some  of  them. 

Massachusetts  has  founded  four  Normal  Schools, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  present  century  she  may  not 


Normal  School  Training.  207 

have  established  as  many  more,  for  she  now  satisfies 
the  just  demands  of  every  section  of  her  territory, 
and  presents  the  benefits  of  this  system  of  instruc- 
tion to  all  her  inhabitants.  The  building  we  here 
set  apart,  and  the  school  we  now  inaugurate  to  the 
service  of  learning,  are  to  be  regarded  as  the  com- 
pletion of  the  original  plan  of  the  state,  and  any 
future  extension  will  depend  upon  the  success  of  the 
Normal  system  as  it  shall  appear  in  other  years  to 
other  generations  of  men.  But  we  have  great  faith 
that  the  Normal  system,  in  itself  and  in  its  connec- 
tions, will  realize  the  cherished  idea  of  our  whole 
history ;  and  if  so,  it  will  be  extended  until  every 
school  is  supplied  with  a  Normal  teacher. 

This,  then,  is  an  occasion  of  general  interest ;  but 
to  the  city  of  Salem,  and  the  county  of  Essex,  it  is 
specially  important.  Similar  institutions  have  been 
long  established  in  other  parts  of  the  state  ;  but 
some  compensation  is  now  to  be  made  to  you,  in  the 
experience  and  improvements  of  the  last  fifteen 
years.  Intelligent  labor  sheds  light  upon  the  path 
of  the  laborer,  and,  though  the  direct  benefits  of 
this  system  have  not  been  here  enjoyed,  many  re- 
sulting advantages  from  the  experience  of  similar 
institutions  in  other  places  will  now  inure  to  you. 

The  city  of  Salem,  with  wise  forecast,  anticipated 
these  advantages,  and  generously  contributed  a  sum 


208  Normal  School  Training. 

larger  even  than  that  appropriated  by  the  state 
itself.  This  bounty  determined  the  location  of  the 
school,  but  determined  it  fortunately  for  all  con- 
cerned. 

Salem  is  one  of  the  central  points  of  the  state  ; 
and  in  this  respect  no  other  town  in  the  vicinity, 
however  well  situated,  is  a  competitor.  Pupils 
may  reside  at  their  homes  in  Newburyport,  Lynn, 
Lawrence,  Haverhill,  Gloucester  and  Lowell,  or 
at  any  intermediate  place,  and  enjoy  the  benefit 
of  daily  instruction  within  these  walls.  This  is  a 
great  privilege  for  parents  and  pupils  ;  and  it  could 
not  have  been  so  well  secured  at  any  other  point. 
Here,  also,  pupils  and  teachers  may  avail  themselves 
of  the  libraries,  literary  institutions  and  cabinets  of 
this  ancient  and  prosperous  town.  These  are  no 
common  advantages. 

We  are  wiser  and  better  for  the  presence  of  great 
numbers  of  books,  though  we  may  never  know  what 
they  contain.  We  see  how  much  perseverance  and 
labor  have  accomplished,  and  are  sensible  that  what 
has  been  may  be  equalled  if  not  excelled.  In  great 
libraries,  we  realize  how  the  works  of  the  ambitious 
are  neglected,  and  their  names  forgotten,  while  we 
cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  value  of  the 
truth,  that  the  only  labor  which  brings  a  certain 
reward  is  that  performed  under  a  sense  of  duty. 


Normal  School  Training.  209 

Salem  is  itself  the  intelligent  and  refined  centre 
of  an  intelligent  and  prosperous  population  ;  and  we 
may  venture  so  far,  in  just  eulogy,  as  to  attribute  to 
it  the  united  advantages  of  city  and  country,  with- 
out a  large  share  of  the  privations  of  the  one,  or  the 
vices  of  the  other.  Of  the  four  Normal  Schools, 
this  is,  unquestionably,  the  most  fortunate  in  its 
position  and  surroundings.  We,  therefore,  ask  for 
the  concurrence  of  the  public  in  the  judgment  which 
has  established  it  in  this  city.  If  it  shall  be  the 
fortune  of  the  government  to  assemble  a  body  of 
instructors  qualified  for  their  stations,  there  will 
then  remain  no  reason  why  these  accommodations 
and  advantages  should  not  be  fully  enjoyed. 

The  Normal  School  differs  from  all  other  semina- 
ries of  learning,  and  only  because  it  is  an  auxiliary 
to  the  common  schools  can  it  be  deemed  their  in- 
ferior in  importance.  The  academy  and  college  take 
young  men  from  the  district  and  high  schools,  and 
furnish  them  with  additional  aids  for  the  business  of 
life  ;  but  the  Normal  School  is  truly  the  helper  of 
the  common  schools.  It  receives  its  pupils  from 
them,  fits  these  pupils  for  teachers,  and  sends  them 
back  to  superintend  where  a  few  months  before  they 
were  scholars.  The  Normal  Schools  are  sustained 
by  the  common  schools  ;  and  these  latter,  in  return, 
draw  their  best  nutriment  from  the  former.  This 
18* 


210  Normal  School  Training. 

institution  stands  with  the  common  school ;  it  is 
as  truly  popular,  as  really  democratic  in  a  just 
sense,  and  its  claim  for  support  rests  upon  the  same 
foundation. 

In  Massachusetts  we  have  abandoned  the  idea, 
never,  I  think,  general,  that  instruction  in  the  art  of 
teaching  is  unnecessary. 

The  Normal  School  is,  with  us,  a  necessity ;  for  it 
furnishes  that  tuition  which  neither  the  common 
school,  academy,  nor  college  can.  These  institu- 
tions were  once  better  adapted  to  this  service  than 
now.  There  has  been  a  continual  increase  of  aca- 
demic studies,  until  it  has  become  necessary  to  estab- 
lish institutions  for  special  purposes  ;  and  of  these 
the  Normal  School  is  one.  Its  object  is  definite. 
The  true  Normal  School  instructs  only  in  the  art  of 
teaching  ;  and,  in  this  respect,  it  must  be  confessed 
we  have  failed,  sadly  failed,  to  realize  the  ideal  of 
the  system.  It  is  not  a  substitute  for  the  common 
school,  academy,  or  college,  though  many  pupils, 
and  in  some  degree  the  public,  have  been  inclined 
thus  to  treat  it.  There  should  be  no  instruction  in 
the  departments  of  learning,  high  or  low,  except 
what  is  incidental  to  the  main  business  of  the  insti- 
tution ;  yet  some  have  gone  so  far  in  the  wrong 
course  as  to  suggest  that  not  only  the  common 
branches  should  be  studied,  but  that  tuition  should 


Normal  School  Training.  211 

be  given  in  the  languages  and  the  higher  mathemat- 
ics. A  little  reflection  will  satisfy  us  how  great  a 
departure  this  would  be  from  the  just  idea  of  the 
Normal  School.  Yet  circumstances,  rather  than 
public  sentiment,  have  compelled  the  government  to 
depart  in  practice,  though  never  in  theory,  from  the 
true  system. 

It  so  happens  that  much  time  is  occupied  in  in- 
struction in  those  branches  which  ought  to  be  thor- 
oughly mastered  by  the  pupil  before  he  enters  the 
Normal  School,  —  that  is,  before  he  begins  to  acquire 
the  art  of  teaching  what  he  has  not  himself  learned. 

Such  is  the  state  of  our  schools  that  we  are  obliged 
to  accept  as  pupils  those  who  are  not  qualified,  in  a 
literary  point  of  view,  for  the  post  of  teachers.  By 
sending  better  teachers  into  the  public  schools,  you 
will  effectually  aid  in  the  removal  of  this  difficulty. 
The  Normal  School  is,  then,  no  substitute  for  the  high 
school,  academy,  or  college.  Nor  do  we  ask  for  any 
sympathy  or  aid  which  properly  belongs  to  those 
institutions.  He  is  no  friend  of  education,  in  its 
proper  signification,  who  patronizes  some  one  insti- 
tution, and  neglects  all  others.  We  have  no  semina- 
ries of  learning  which  can  be  considered  useless,  and 
he  only  is  a  true  friend  who  aids  and  encourages  any 
and  all  as  he  has  opportunity.  What  is  popularly 
known  as  learning  is  to  be  acquired  in  the  common 


212  Normal  School  Training. 

school,  high  school,  academy  and  college,  as  here- 
tofore. The  Normal  School  does  not  profess  to  give 
instruction  in  reading  and  arithmetic,  but  to  teach 
the  art  of  teaching  reading  and  arithmetic.  So  of 
all  the  elementary  branches.  But,  as  the  art  of 
teaching  a  subject  cannot  be  acquired  without  at  the 
same  time  acquiring  a  better  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject itself,  the  pupil  will  always  leave  the  Normal 
School  better  grounded  than  ever  before  in  the  ele- 
ments and  principles  of  learning.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, to  be  expected  that  complete  success  will  be 
realized  here  more  than  elsewhere  ;  yet  it  is  well  to 
elevate  the  standard  of  admission,  from  time  to  time, 
so  that  a  larger  part  of  the  exercises  may  be  devoted 
to  the  main  purpose  of  the  institution.  The  strug- 
gle should  be  perpetual  and  in  the  right  direction. 
First,  elevate  your  common  schools  so  that  the  edu- 
cation there  may  be  a  sufficient  basis  for  a  course  of 
training  here.  If  the  Normal  School  and  .the  public 
schools  shall  each  and  all  do  their  duty,  candidates 
for  admission  will  be  so  well  qualified  in  the  branches 
required,  that  the  art  of  teaching  will  be  the  only  art 
taught  here.  When  this  is  the  case,  the  time  of 
attendance  will  bo  diminished,  and  a  much  larger 
number  of  persons  may  be  annually  qualified  for  the 
station  of  teachers. 

Next,  let  the  committees  and  others  interested  in 


Normal  School  Training.  213 

education  make  special  efforts  to  fill  the  chairs  of 
your  hall  with  young  women  of  promise,  who  are 
likely  to  devote  themselves  to  the  profession.  It  is, 
however,  impossible  for  human  wisdom  to  guard 
against  one  fate  that  happens  to  all,  or  nearly  all, 
the  young  women  who  are  graduated  at  our  Normal 
Schools.  But  this  remark  is  not  made  publicly,  lest 
some  anxious  ones  avail  themselves  of  your  bounty 
as  a  means  to  an  end  not  contemplated  by  the  state. 

The  house  you  have  erected  is  not  so  much  dedi- 
cated to  the  school  as  to  the  public  ;  the  institution 
here  set  up  is  not  so  much  for  the  benefit  of  the 
young  women  who  may  become  pupils,  as  for  the 
benefit  of  the  public  which  they  represent.  The 
appeal  is,  therefore,  to  the  public  to  furnish  such 
pupils,  in  number  and  character,  that  this  institution 
may  soon  and  successfully  enter  upon  the  work  for 
which  it  is  properly  designed. 

But  the  character  and  value  of  this  school  depend 
on  the  quality  of  its  teachers  more  than  on  all  things 
else.  They  should  be  thoroughly  instructed,  not 
only  in  the  branches  taught,  but  in  the  art  of  teach- 
ing them. 

The  teacher  ought  to  have  attained  much  that  the 
pupil  is  yet  to  learn  ;  if  he  has  not,  he  cannot  utter 
words  of  encouragement,  nor  estimate  the  chances 
of  success.  It  is  not  enough  to  know  what  is  con- 


214  Normal  School  Training. 

tained  in  the  text-book  ;  the  pupil  should  know  that, 
at  least ;  the  teacher  should  know  a  great  deal  more. 
A.  person  is  not  qualified  for  the  office  of  teacher 
when  he  has  mastered  a  book ;  and  has,  in  fact,  no 
right  to  instruct  others  until  he  has  mastered  the 
subject. 

Text-books  help  us  a  little  on  the  road  of  learn- 
ing ;  but,  by  and  by,  whatever  our  pursuit  or  pro- 
fession, we  leave  them  behind,  or  else  content  our- 
selves with  a  subordinate  position.  Practical  men 
have  made  book-farmers  the  subject  of  ridicule  ;  and 
there  is  some  propriety  in  this  ;  for  he  is  not  a  master 
in  his  profession  who  has  not  got,  as  a  general  thing, 
out  of  and  beyond  the  books  which  treat  of  it. 

Books  are  necessary  in  the  school-room ;  but  the 
good  teacher  has  little  use  for  them  in  his  own 
hands,  or  as  aids  in  his  own  proper  work.  lie 
should  be  instructed  in  his  subject,  aside  from  and 
above  the  arbitrary  rules  of  authors  ;  and  he  will  be, 
if  he  is  himself  inspired  with  a  love  of  learning. 
Inspired  with  a  love  of  learning!  Whoever  is,  is 
sure  of  success  ;  and  whoever  is  not,  has  the  best 
possible  security  for  the  failure  of  his  plans.  Tlicro 
cannot  be  a  good  school  where  the  love  of  learning 
in  teacher  and  pupil  is  wanting ;  and  there  cannot 
be  a  bad  one  where  this  spirit  has  control.  As  the 
•later,  so  is  the  disciple  ;  as  the  teacher,  so  is  the 


Normal  School  Training.  215 

pupil ;  for  the  spirit  of  the  teacher  will  be  commu- 
nicated to  the  scholars.  There  must  also  be  habits 
of  industry  and  system  in  study.  We  have  multi- 
tudes of  scholars  who  study  occasionally,  and  study 
hard  ;  but  we  need  a  race  of  students  who  will 
devote  themselves  habitually,  and  with  love,  to  liter- 
ature and  science. 

On  the  teachers,  then,  is  the  chief  responsibility, 
whether  the  young  women  who  go  out  from  this 
institution  are  well  qualified  for  their  profession  or 
not.  The  study  of  technicalities  is  drudgery  of  the 
worst  sort  to  the  mere  pupil  ;  but  the  scholar  looks 
upon  it  as  a  preparation  for  a  wide  and  noble  exer- 
cise of  his  intellectual  powers  —  as  a  key  to  unlock 
the  mysteries  of  learning.  It  is  the  business  of  the 
teacher  to  lighten  the  labors  of  to-day  by  bright 
visions  of  to-morrow. 

There  is  a  school  in  medicine,  whose  chief  claim 
is,  that  it  invites  and  prepares  Nature  to  act  in  the 
removal  of  disease. 

We  pass  no  judgment  upon  this  claim  ;  but  he  is, 
no  doubt,  the  best  teacher  who  does  little  for  his 
pupils,  while  he  incites  and  encourages  them  to  do 
much  for  themselves.  Extensive  knowledge  will 
enable  the  teacher  to  do  this. 

He  is  a  poor  instructor  of  mathematics  who  sees 
only  the  dry  details  of  rules,  tables  and  problems, 


216  Normal  School  Training. 

and  never  ascends  to  the  contemplation  of  those 
supreme  wonders  of  the  universe  which  mathemat- 
ical astronomy  has  laid  open.  The  grammar  of  a 
language  is  defined  to  be  the  art  of  reading  and 
writing  that  language  with  propriety.  The  study 
of  its  elements  is  dry  and  uninteresting  ;  and,  while 
the  teacher  dwells  with  care  upon  the  merits  of  the 
text,  he  should  also  lift  the  veil  from  that  which  is 
hidden,  and  lead  his  pupils  to  appreciate  those  riches 
of  learning  which  the  knowledge  of  a  language  may 
confer  upon  the  student. 

It  is  useful  to  know  the  division  of  the  globe  into 
continents  and  oceans,  islands  and  lakes,  mountains 
and  rivers  —  and  this  knowledge  the  text-books  con- 
tain ;  but  it  is  a  higher  learning  to  understand  the 
(•fleet  of  this  division  upon  climate,  soil  and  natural 
productions  —  upon  the  character  and  pursuits  of 
the  human  race.  Books  are  so  improved  that  they 
may  very  well  take  the  place  of  poor,  or  even  ordi- 
nary teachers. 

Explanations  and  illustrations  are  numerous  and 
appropriate,  and  very  little  remains  for  the  mere 
text-book  teacher  to  do.  But,  when  the  duties  of 
teacher  and  the  exercises  of  the  school-room  are 
properly  performed,  the  entire  range  of  science,  busi- 
ness, literature  and  art,  is  presented  to  the  student. 
May  it  b<»  your  fortune  to  see  education  thus  clc- 


Normal  School  Training.  217 

vated  here,  and  then  will  the  same  spirit  be  infused 
into  the  public  schools  of  the  vicinity. 

The  Massachusetts  system  of  education  is  a  noble 
tribute  to  freedom  of  thought.  The  power  of  edu- 
cating a  people,  which  is,  in  fine,  the  chief  power  in 
a  state,  has  been  often,  if  not  usually,  perverted  to 
the  support  of  favored  opinions  in  religion  and  gov- 
ernment. The  boasted  system  of  Prussia  is  only  a 
prop  and  ally  of  the  existing  order  of  things.  In 
France,  Napoleon  makes  the  press,  which  has  be- 
come in  civilized  countries  an  educator  of  the  people, 
the  mere  instrument  of  his  will.  Tyrants  do  not 
hesitate  to  pervert  schools  and  the  press,  learning 
and  literature,  to  the  support  of  tyranny.  But  with 
us  the  press  and  the  school  are  free  ;  and  this  free- 
dom, denied  through  fear  in  other  countries,  is  the 
best  evidence  of  the  stability  of  our  institutions.  It 
is  now  a  hundred  years  since  an  attempt  was  made 
in  Massachusetts  to  exercise  legal  censorship  over 
the  press  ;  but  we  occasionally  hear  of  movements 
to  make  the  public  schools  of  America  subservient 
to  sect  or  party.  The  success  of  these  movements 
would  be  as  great  a  calamity  as  can  ever  befall  a 
free  people.  Ignorance  would  take  the  place  of 
learning,  and  slavery  would  usurp  the  domain  of 
liberty. 

No  defence,  excuse,  or  palliation,  can  be  offered 
19 


218  Normal  School  Training. 

for  such  movements  ;  and  their  triumph  will  surely 
produce  all  the  evils  which  it  is  possible  for  an  en- 
lightened people  to  endure.  Our  system  of  instruc- 
tion is  what  it  professes  to  be,  —  a  public  system. 
As  sects  or  parties,  we  have  no  claim  whatever  upon 
it.  A  man  is  not  taxed  because  he  is  of  a  particular 
faith  in  religion,  or  party  in  politics  ;  he  is  not  taxed 
because  he  is  the  father  of  a  family,  or  excused  be- 
cause he  is  not ;  but  he  contributes  to  the  cause  of 
education  because  he  is  a  citizen,  and  has  an  interest 
in  that  general  intelligence  which  decides  questions 
of  faith  and  practice  as  they  arise.  It  is  for  the 
interest  of  all  that  all  shall  be  educated  for  the 
various  pursuits  and  duties  of  the  time.  The  educa- 
tion of  children  is,  no  doubt,  first  in  individual  duty. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  parent,  the  duty  of  the  friend  ; 
but,  above  all,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  public.  This 
duty  arises  from  the  relations  of  men  in  every  civil- 
ized state  ;  but  in  a  popular  government  it  becomes 
a  necessity.  The  people  are  the  source  of  power  — 
the  sovereign.  And  is  it  more  important  in  a  mon- 
archy than  in  a  republic  that  the  ruler  be  intelligent, 
virtuous,  and  in  all  respects  qualified  for  his  duties  ? 

The  institution  here  set  up  is  an  essential  part  of 
our  system  of  public  instruction,  and,  as  such,  it 
claims  the  public  favor,  sympathy  and  support. 

This  is  a  period  of  excitement  in  all  the  affairs  and 


Normal  School  Training.  219 

relations  of  men,  and  America  is  fast  becoming  the 
central  point  of  these  activities.  They  are,  no 
doubt,  associated  with  many  blessings,  but  they 
may  also  be  attended  by  great  evils.  We  claim  for 
our  country  preeminence  in  education.  This  may  be 
just,  but  it  is  also  true  that  Americans,  more  than 
any  other  people,  need  to  be  better  educated  than 
they  are.  Where  else  is  the  field  of  statesmanship 
so  large,  or  the  necessity  for  able  statesmen  so 
great  ? 

With  the  single  exception  of  Great  Britain,  there 
is  no  nation  whose  relations  are  such  as  to  require  a 
union  in  rulers  of  the  rarest  practical  abilities  with 
accurate,  sound  and  varied  learning ;  and  there  is  no 
nation  whose  people  are  so  critical  in  the  tests  they 
apply  to  their  public  agents.  We  need  men  thor- 
oughly educated  in  all  the  departments  of  learning  ; 
to  which  ought  to  be  added,  travel  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  every  part 
of  our  own.  Such  men  we  have  had  —  such  men  we 
have  now  ;  but  they  will  be  more  and  more  import- 
ant as  we  advance  in  numbers,  territory  and  power. 
A  corresponding  culture  is  necessary  in  theology,  in 
law,  and  in  all  the  pursuits  of  industry. 

No  other  nation  has  so  great  a  destiny.  That 
destiny  is  manifest,  and  may  be  read  in  the  heart 
and  purpose  of  the  people.  They  seek  new  terri- 


220  Normal  School  Training. 

tories,  an  increase  of  population,  the  prosperity  of 
commerce,  of  all  the  arts  of  industry,  and  preemi- 
nence in  virtue,  learning  and  intellectual  power. 
And  all  this  they  can  attain  ;  for  the  destiny  of  a 
people,  within  the  limits  prescribed  by  reason,  is 
determined  by  themselves.  If,  however,  by  con- 
quest, annexation  and  absorption,  we  acquire  new 
territories,  and  strange  races  and  nations  of  men,  and 
yet  neglect  education,  every  step  will  but  increase 
our  burdens  and  perils,  and  hasten  our  decay. 


FEMALE  EDUCATION. 

[An  Address  before  the  Newburyport  Female  High  School.] 

I  ACCEPTED,  without  a  moment's  delay,  the  invita- 
tion of  the  principal  of  this  school  to  deliver  the 
customary  address  on  this,  the  fifteenth  anniversary 
of  its  establishment.  My  presence  here  in  connec- 
tion with  public  instruction  is  not  a  proper  subject 
for  comment  by  myself;  but  I  have  now  come,  allow 
me  to  say,  with  unusual  alacrity,  that  we  may  to- 
gether recognize  the  claims  of  an  institution  which 
furnishes  the  earliest  evidence  existing  among  us  of 
a  special  design  on  the  part  of  the  public  to  provide 
adequate  intellectual  and  moral  training  for  the 
young  women  of  the  state. 

Those  movements  which  have  accomplished  most 
for  religion,  liberty,  and  learning,  have  not  been 
sudden  in  their  origin  nor  rapid  in  their  progress. 
Christianity  has  been  preached  eighteen  hundred 
years,  yet  it  is  not  now  received,  even  intellect- 
ually, by  the  larger  part  of  the  human  race.  Magna 
Charta  is  six  centuries  old,  but  its  principles  are  not 
accepted  by  all  the  nations  of  Europe  and  America  ; 
19*  (221) 


222  Female  Education. 

and  it  is  not,  therefore,  strange  that  a  system  of  pub- 
lic instruction,  originated  by  the  Puritans  of  New 
England,  should  yet  be  struggling  against  prejudice 
and  error.  In  Asia  woman  is  degraded,  and  in 
Europe  her  common  condition  is  that  of  apparent 
and  absolute  inferiority.  When  America  was  settled 
she  became  a  participator  in  the  struggles  and  suffer- 
ings which  awaited  the  pioneers  of  civilization  and 
liberty  on  this  continent,  and  she  thus  earned  a  place 
in  family,  religious,  and  even  in  public  life,  which 
foreshowed  her  certain  and  speedy  disenthrallment 
from  the  tyranny  of  tradition  and  time.  Her  rights 
with  us  are  secure,  and  the  anxiety  and  boisterous 
alarm  exhibited  by  some  strong-minded  women,  and 
the  horror-fringed  apprehensions  and  prophecies  of 
some  weak-minded  men,  are  equally  unreasonable 
and  absurd.  Woman  is  sharing  the  lot  of  humanity, 
and  therewith  she  ought  to  be  content.  Man  docs 
not  remove  the  burden  of  ignorance  and  oppression 
from  his  sex,  merely,  but  generally  from  his  kind. 
At  least,  this  is  the  experience  and  promise  of  Amer- 
ica. If  woman  docs  not  vote  because  she  is  woman, 
so  and  for  the  same  reason  she  is  not  subject  to  per- 
sonal taxation.  It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  voting 
is  a  privilege,  and  taxation,  ever  and  always,  a  bur- 
den. Both  are  duties  ;  and  the  privilege  of  the  one 
and  the  burden  of  the  other  are  only  incidental  and 


Female  Education.  223 

subordinate.  The  human  family  is  an  aggregation 
of  families  ;  and  the  family,  not  the  man  nor  the 
woman,  is  the  unit  of  the  state.  The  civil  law  as- 
sumes the  existence  of  the  family  relation,  and  its 
unity  where  it  exists  ;  hence  taxation  of  the  woman 
brings  no  revenue  to  the  state  that  might  not  have 
been  secured  by  the  taxation  of  the  man  ;  and  hence 
the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise  by  the  woman 
brings  no  additional  political  power ;  for,  in  the 
theory  of  the  relation  to  which  there  are,  in  fact, 
but  few  exceptions,  there  is  in  the  household  but 
one  political  idea,  and  but  one  agent  is  needed  for 
its  expression.  The  ballot  is  the  judgment  of  the 
family  ;  not  of  the  man,  merely,  nor  of  the  woman, 
nor  yet,  indeed,  always  of  both,  even.  The  first  smile 
that  the  father  receives  from  the  child  affects  every 
subsequent  vote  in  municipal  concerns,  and  likely 
enough  also  in  national  affairs.  From  that  moment 
forward,  he  judges  constables,  selectmen,  magis- 
trates, aldermen,  mayors,  school-committees,  and 
councillors,  with  an  altered  judgment.  The  result 
of  the  election  is  not  the  victory  or  defeat  of  the 
man  alone  ;  it  is  the  triumph  or  prostration  of  a  prin- 
ciple or  purpose  with  which  the  family  is  identified. 
Is  it  said  that  there  is  occasionally,  if  not  fre- 
quently, a  divided  judgment  in  the  household  upon 
those  questions  that  are  decided  by  the  ballot  ?  This 


224  Female  Education. 

must,  of  course,  be  granted  as  an  exceptional  condi- 
tion of  domestic  life  ;  but,  for  the  wisest  reasons  of 
public  policy,  whose  avoidance  by  the  state  would 
be  treachery  to  humanity,  the  law  universal  can 
recognize  only  the  general  condition  of  things.  So, 
and  for  kindred  but  not  equally  strong  reasons,  the 
elective  franchise  is  exercised  by  men  without  fami- 
lies, and  denied  to  those  women  who  by  the  dispen- 
sations of  Divine  Providence  are  called  to  preside  in 
homes  where  the  father's  face  is  seen  no  more.  But 
why,  in  the  eye  of  the  state,  shall  the  man  stand  as 
the  head  of  the  family,  rather  than  the  woman  ?  Be- 
cause God  has  so  ordained  it ;  and  no  civil  commu- 
nity has  ever  yet  escaped  from  the  force  of  His 
decree  in  this  respect.  Those  whose  physical  power 
defends  the  nation,  or  tribe,  or  family,  are  naturally 
called  upon  to  decide  what  the  means  of  defence 
shall  be.  Is  not  woman,  then,  the  equal  of  man  ? 
We  cannot  say  of  woman,  with  reference  to  man,  that 
she  is  his  superior,  or  his  inferior,  or  his  equal ;  nor 
can  we  say  of  man,  with  reference  to  woman,  that  he 
is  her  superior,  or  her  inferior,  or  her  equal.  He  is 
her  protector,  she  is  his  helpmeet.  His  strength  is 
sufficient  for  her  weakness,  and  her  power  is  the  sup- 
port of  his  irresolution  and  want  of  faith.  Woman's 
rights  are  not  man's  rights ;  nor  are  man's  rights  the 
measure  of  woman's  rights.  If  she  should  assert  her 


Female  Education.  225 

independence,  as  some  idiosyncratic  persons  desire, 
she  could  only  declare  her  intention  to  do  all  those 
acts  and  things  which  woman  may  of  right  do. 
Given  that  this  is  accomplished,  and  I  know  not 
that  she  would  possess  one  additional  domestic, 
political,  or  public  right,  or  enjoy  one  privilege  in 
the  family,  neighborhood,  or  state,  to  which  she  is 
not,  in  some  degree,  at  least,  already  accustomed. 

These  views  and  reflections  may  serve  to  illustrate 
and  enforce  the  leading  position  of  this  address  — 
that  we  are  to  educate  young  women  for  the  enjoy- 
ments and  duties  of  the  sphere  in  which  they  are  to 
move.  We  speak  to-day  of  public  instruction  ;  but 
it  should  ever  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  education 
of  the  schools  is  but  a  part,  and  often  only  the  least 
important  part,  of  the  training  that  the  young  re- 
ceive. There  is  the  training  of  infancy  and  early 
childhood,  the  daily  culture  of  home,  with  its  refining 
or  deadening  influences,  and  then  the  education  of 
the  street,  the  parlor,  the  festive  gathering,  and  the 
clubs,  which  exert  a  power  over  the  youth  of  both 
sexes  that  cannot  often  be  controlled  entirely  by  the 
school. 

Womanhood  is  sometimes  sacrificed  in  childhood, 
when  the  mother  and  the  family  fail  to  develop  the 
womanly  qualities  of  modesty,  grace,  generosity  of 


226  Female  Education. 

character,  and  geniality  of  temper,  which  dignify, 
adorn,  and  protect, 

"  The  sex  whose  presence  civilizes  ours." 

The  child,  whether  girl  or  boy,  reflects  the  charac- 
ter of  its  home  ;  and  therefore  we  are  compelled  to 
deal  with  all  the  homes  of  the  district  or  town,  and 
are  required  often  to  counteract  the  influences  they 
exert.  Early  vicious  training  is  quite  as  disastrous 
to  the  girl  as  to  the  boy  ;  for,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
the  world  more  readily  tolerates  ignorance,  coarse- 
ness, rudeness,  immodesty,  and  all  their  answering 
vices,  in  man  than  in  woman.  In  the  period  of  life 
from  eight  to  twenty  years  of  age  the  progress  of 
woman  is,  to  us  of  sterner  mould,  inconceivably  rapid ; 
but  from  twenty  to  forty  the  advantages  of  educa- 
tion are  upon  the  other  side.  It  then  follows  that  a 
defective  system  of  education  is  more  pernicious  to 
woman  than  to  man. 

We  may  contemplate  woman  in  four  relations  with 
their  answering  responsibilities  —  as  pupil,  teacher, 
companion,  aud  mother.  As  a  pupil,  she  is  sensitive, 
conscientious,  quick,  ambitious,  and  possesses  in 
a  marvellous  degree,  as  compared  with  the  other  sex, 
the  power  of  intuition.  The  boy  is  logical,  or  he  is 
nothing ;  but  logic  is  not  necessary  for  the  girl.  Not 
that  she  is  illogical ;  but  she  usually  sees  through, 


Female  Education.  227 

without  observing  the  steps  in  the  process  which  a 
boy  must  discern  before  he  can  comprehend  the  sub- 
ject presented  to  his  mind.  In  the  use  of  the  eye, 
the  ear,  the  voice,  and  in  the  appropriation  of  what- 
ever may  be  commanded  without  the  highest  exer- 
cise of  the  reasoning  and  reflective  faculties,  she  is 
incomparably  superior.  She  accepts  moral  truth 
without  waiting  for  a  demonstration,  and  she  obeys 
the  law  founded  upon  it  without  being  its  slave. 
She  instinctively  prefers  good  manners  to  faulty 
habits  ;  and,  in  the  requirements  of  family,  social,  and 
fashionable  life,  she  is  better  educated  at  sixteen 
than  her  brother  is  at  twenty.  She  is  an  adept  in 
one  only  of  the  vices  of  the  school  —  whispering  — 
and  iu  that  she  excels.  But  she  does  not  so  readily 
resort  to  the  great  vice — the  crime  of  falsehood; — as 
do  her  companions  of  the  other  sex.  I  call  false- 
hood the  great  vice,  because,  if  this  were  unknown, 
tardiness,  truancy,  obscenity,  and  profanity,  could 
not  thrive.  Holmes  has  well  said  that  "sin  has 
many  tools,  but  a  lie  is  the  handle  that  will  fit 
them  all." 

In  many  primary  and  district  schools  the  habits 
and  manners  of  children  are  too  much  neglected. 
We  associate  good  habits  and  good  manners  with 
good  morals  ;  and,  though  we  are  deceived  again 
and  again,  and  soliloquize  upon  the  rnaxim  that  "  all 


228  Female  Education. 

is  not  gold  that  glitters,"  we  instinctively  believe, 
however  often  we  are  betrayed.  Habits  and  man- 
ners are  the  first  evidence  of  character  ;  and  so  much 
of  weight  do  we  attach  to  such  evidence,  that  we 
give  credit  and  confidence  to  those  whom  in  our 
calmer  moments  we  know  to  be  unworthy.  The 
first  aim  in  the  school  should  be  to  build  up  a  char- 
acter that  shall  be  truthfully  indicated  by  purity  and 
refinement  of  manner  and  conversation.  It  does, 
indeed,  sometimes  happen  that  purity  of  character 
is  not  associated  with  refinement  of  manners.  This 
misfortune  is  traceable  to  a  defective  early  educa- 
tion, both  in  the  school  and  the  home  ;  for,  had 
cither  been  faithful  and  intelligent,  the  evil  would 
have  been  averted.  And,  as  there  are  many  homes 
in  city  and  country  where  refinement  of  manners  is 
not  found,  and,  of  course,  cannot  be  taught,  the 
schools  must  furnish  the  training.  In  this  connection, 
the  value  of  the  high  school  for  females — whether  ex- 
clusively so  or  not,  docs  not  seem  to  me  important— 
is  clearly  seen.  Young  women  are  naturally  and 
properly  the  teachers  of  primary,  district,  and  sub- 
ordinate schools  of  every  grade  ;  and  society  as 
naturally  and  properly  looks  to  them  to  educate,  by 
example  as  well  as  by  precept,  all  the  children  of  the 
htutc  in  good  habits,  good  manners,  and  good  morals. 
We  arc  also  permitted  to  look  forward  to  the  higher 


Female  Education.  229 

relations  of  life,  when,  as  wives  and  mothers,  they 
are  to  exert  a  potent  influence  over  existing  and 
future  generations.  The  law  and  the  lexicons  say 
"home  is  the  house  or  the  place  where  one  resides." 
This  definition  may  answer  for  the  law  and  the  lexi- 
cons, but  it  does  not  meet  the  wants  of  common  life. 
The  wife  will  usually  find  in  her  husband  less 
refinement  of  manners  than  she  herself  possesses  ; 
and  it  is  her  great  privilege,  if  not  her  solemn  duty, 
to  illustrate  the  line  of  Cowper,  and  show  that  she 
is  of 

"  The  sex  whose  presence  civilizes  ours." 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  teacher  to  make  the  school 
attractive  ;  and  what  the  teacher  should  do  for 
the  school  the  wife  should  do  for  the  home.  The 
home  should  be  preferred  by  the  husband  and  chil- 
dren to  all  other  places.  Much  depends  upon 
themselves  ;  they  have  no  right  to  claim  all  of  the 
wife  and  mother.  But,  without  her  aid,  they  can 
do  but  little.  With  her  aid,  every  desirable  result 
may  be  accomplished.  That  this  result  may  be  se- 
cured, female  education  must  be  generous,  critical, 
and  pure,  in  everything  that  relates  to  manners,  hab- 
its, and  morals.  Much  may  be  added  to  these,  but 
nothing  can  serve  in  their  stead.  We  should  add, 
no  doubt,  thorough  elementary  training  in  reading, 
writing,  and  spelling,  both  for  her  own  good  and  for 
20 


230  Female  Education. 

the  service  of  her  children.  Intellectual  train  jpg  is 
defective  where  these  elements  are  neglected,  and 
their  importance  to  the  sexes  may  be  equal.  We 
should  not  omit  music  and  the  culture  of  the  voice. 
The  tones  of  the  voice  indicate  the  tone  of  the  mind  ; 
but  the  temper  itself  may  finally  yield  to  a  graceful 
and  gentle  form  of  expression.  It  is  not  probable 
that  we  shall  ever  give  due  attention  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  human  voice  for  speaking,  reading,  and 
singing.  This  is  an  invaluable  accomplishment  in 
man.  Many  of  us  have  listened  to  New  England's 
most  distinguished  living  orator,  and  felt  that  well- 
known  lines  from  the  English  poets  derived  new 
power,  if  not  actual  inspiration,  from  the  classic 
tones  in  which  the  words  were  uttered. 

A  cultivated  voice  in  woman  is  at  once  the  evi- 
dence and  the  means  of  moral  power.  As  the  moral 
sensibilities  of  the  girl  are  more  acute  than  those 
of  the  boy,  so  the  moral  power  of  the  woman  is 
greater  than  that  of  the  man.  Many  young  women 
are  educating  themselves  for  the  business  of  teach- 
ing; and  I  can  commend  nothing  more  important, 
after  the  proper  ordering  of  one  's  own  life,  than  the 
discreet  and  careful  training  of  the  voice.  It  is  itself 
a  power.  It  demands  sympathy  before  the  suffering 
or  its  cause  is  revealed  by  articulate  speech  ;  its 
tonefl  awe  assemblies,  and  command  silence  before 


Female  Education.  231 

the  speaker  announces  his  views  ;  and  the  rebellious 
and  disorderly,  whether  in  the  school,  around  the 
rostrum,  or  on  the  field,  bow  in  submission  beneath 
the  authority  of  its  majestic  cadences.  It  is  hardly 
possible  to  imagine  a  good  school,  and  very  rare  to 
see  one,  where  this  power  is  wanting  in  the  teacher. 
Women  are  often  called  to  take  charge  of  schools 
where  there  are  lads  and  youth  destitute  of  thut 
culture  which  would  lead  them  to  yield  respect  and 
consequent  obedience.  Physical  force  in  these  easels 
is  not  usually  to  be  thought  of;  but  nature  has 
vouchsafed  to  woman  such  a  degree  of  moral  power, 
of  which  in  the  school  the  voice  is  the  best  expres- 
sion, as  often  to  fully  compensate  for  her  weakness 
in  other  respects. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  commend  reading  as  an  art 
and  an  accomplishment ;  but  good  readers  are  so 
rare  among  us,  that  we  cannot  too  strongly  urge 
teachers  to  qualify  themselves  for  the  great  work.  I 
say  great  work,  because  everything  else  is  compara- 
tively easy  to  the  teacher,  and  comparatively  unim- 
portant to  the  pupil.  Grammar  is  merely  an  element 
of  reading.  It  should  be  introduced  as  soon  as  the 
child's  reasoning  faculties  are  in  any  degree  devel- 
oped, and  presented  by  the  living  voice,  without  the 
aid  of  books.  The  alphabet  should  be  taught  in  con- 
nection with  exercises  for  strengthening  and  modu- 


232  Female  Education. 

lating  the  voice,  and  the  elementary  sounds  of  the 
letters  should  be  deemed  as  important  as  their 
names.  All  this  is  the  proper  work  of  the  female 
teacher  ;  and,  when  she  is  ignorant  or  neglects  her 
duty,  the  evil  is  usually  so  great  as  to  admit  of  no 
complete  remedy. 

Reading  is  at  once  an  imitative  and  an  apprecia- 
tive art  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  He  must  be  trained 
to  appreciate  the  meaning  of  the  writer  ;  but  he  will 
depend  upon  the  teacher  at  first,  and,  indeed,  for  a 
long  time,  for  an  example  of  the  true  mode  of  ex- 
pression. This  the  teacher  must  be  ready  to  give. 
It  is  not  enough  that  she  can  correct  faults  of  pro- 
nunciation, censure  inarticulate  utterances,  and  con- 
demn gruff,  nasal,  and  guttural  sounds  ;  but  she 
must  be  able  to  present,  in  reasonable  purity,  all  the 
opposite  qualities.  The  young  women  have  not  yet 
done  their  duty  to  the  cause  of  education  in  these  re- 
spects ;  nor  is  there  everywhere  a  public  sentiment 
that  will  even  now  allow  the  duty  to  be  performed. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  why  the  child  of  five,  and  the 
youth  of  fifteen,  should  be  kept  an  equal  number  of 
hours  at  school.  Each  pupil  should  spend  as  much 
time  in  the  school-room  as  is  needed  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  exercise  and  the  exercise  itself.  The 
danger  from  excessive  confinement  and  labor  is 
with  young  pupils.  Those  in  grammar  and  high 


Female  Education.  233 

schools  may  often  use  additional  hours  for  study; 
but  a  pupil  should  be  somewhat  advanced,  and 
should  possess  considerable  physical  strength  and 
endurance,  before  he  ventures  to  give  more  than  six 
hours  a  day  to  severe  intellectual  labor.  It  must  often 
happen  that  children  in  primary  schools  can  learn  in 
two  hours  each  day  all  that  the  teacher  has  time  to 
communicate,  or  they  have  power  to  receive  and 
appropriate.  Indeed,  I  think  this  is  usually  so.  It 
may  not,  however,  be  safe  to  deduce  from  this  fact 
the  opinion  that  children  should  never  be  kept  longer 
in  school  than  two  hours  a  day  ;  but  it  seems  proper 
to  assume  that,  if  blessed  with  good  homes,  they 
may  be  relieved  from  the  tedium  of  confinement  in 
the  school-room,  when  there  is  no  longer  opportunity 
for  improvement. 

We  are  beginning  to  realize  the  advantages  of 
well-educated  female  teachers  in  primary  schools  ; 
nor  do  I  deem  it  improbable  that  they  shall  be- 
come successful  teachers  and  managers  of  schools 
of  higher  grade,  accordipg  to  the  present  public 
estimation.  But,  in  regard  to  the  latter  position, 
I  have  neither  hope,  desire,  nor  anxiety.  When- 
ever the  public  judge  them,  generally,  or  in  particu- 
lar cases,  qualified  to  take  charge  of  high  schools 
and  normal  schools,  those  positions  will  be  assigned 
to  them  ;  and,  till  that  degree  of  public  confidence  is 
20* 


234  Female  Education. 

accorded,  it  is  useless  to  make  assertions  or  indulge 
in  conjectures  concerning  the  ability  of  women  for 
such  duties.  It  is  my  own  conviction  that  a  higher 
order  of  teaching  talent  is  required  in  the  primary 
school,  or  for  the  early,  judicious  education  of  chil- 
dren, than  is  required  in  any  other  institutions  of 
learning.  Nor  can  it  be  shown  that  equal  ability  for 
government  is  not  essential.  There  must  be  differ- 
ent manifestations  of  ability  in  the  primary  and  the 
high  school ;  but,  where  proper  training  has  been 
enjoyed,  pupils  in  the  latter  ought  to  be  far  advanced 
in  the  acquisition  of  the  cardinal  virtue  of  self-con- 
trol, whose  existence  in  the  school  and  the  state 
renders  government  comparatively  unnecessary. 

Where  there  is  a  human  being,  there  are  the  oppor- 
tunity and  the  duty  of  education.  But  our  present 
great  concern,  as  friends  of  learning,  is  with  those 
schools  where  children  are  first  trained  in  the  ele- 
ments. If  in  these  we  can  have  faithful,  accurate, 
systematic,  comprehensive  teaching,  everything  else 
desirable  will  be  added  thereunto.  But,  if  we  are 
negligent,  unphilosophical,  and  false,  the  reasonable 
public  expectation  will  never  be  realized  in  regard 
to  other  institutions  of  learning. 

The  work  must  be  done  by  women,  and  by  well- 
educated  women  ;  and,  when  it  is  said  that  in  Massa- 
chusetts alone  we  need  the  services  of  six  thousand 


Female  Education.  235 

such  persons,  the  magnitude  of  the  work  of  pro- 
viding teachers  may  be  appreciated.  Have  we  not 
enough  in  this  field  for  every  female  school  and  acad- 
emy, where  high  schools  are  not  required,  or  cannot 
exist,  and  for  every  high  school  and  normal  school 
in  the  commonwealth  ?  If  it  is  asserted  that  the 
supply  of  female  teachers  is  already  greater  than  the 
demand,  it  must  be  stated,  in  reply,  that  there  are 
persons  enough  engaged  in  teaching,  but  that  the 
number  of  competent  teachers  is,  and  ever  has  been, 
too  small.  It  is  something,  my  friends,  it  is  often  a 
great  deal,  to  send  into  a  town  a  well-qualified 
female  teacher.  She  is  not  only  a  blessing  to  those 
who  are  under  her  tuition,  but  .her  example  and  influ- 
ence are  often  such  as  to  change  the  local  sentiment 
concerning  teachers  and  schools.  When  may  we 
expect  a  supply  of  such  persons  ?  The  hope  is  not 
a  delusion,  though  its  realization  may  be  many  years 
postponed.  How  are  competent  persons  to  be  se- 
lected and  qualified  ?  The  change  will  be  gradual, 
and  it  is  to  be  made  in  the  public  opinion  as  well  as 
in  the  character  of  teachers  and  schools.  And  is  it 
not  possible,  even  in  view  of  all  that  has  been  accom- 
plished, that  we  are  yet  groping  in  a  dark  passage, 
with  only  the  hope  that  it  leads  to  an  outward-open- 
ing door,  where,  in  marvellous  but  genial  light,  we 
shall  perceive  new  truths  concerning  the  philosophy 


236  Female  Education. 

of  the  human  mind,  and  the  means  of  its  develop- 
ment ?  At  this  moment  we  are  compelled  to  admit 
that  practical  teachers  and  theorists  in  educational 
matters  are  alike  uncertain  in  regard  to  the  true 
method  of  teaching  the  alphabet,  and  divided  and 
subdivided  in  opinion  concerning  the  order  of  suc- 
cession of  the  various  studies  in  the  primary  and 
grammar  schools.  Perfect  agreement  on  these  points 
is  not  probable  ;  it  may  not  be  desirable.  I  am  sat- 
isfied that  no  greater  contribution  can  be  made  to 
the  cause  of  learning  than  a  presentation  of  these 
topics  and  their  elucidation,  so  that  the  teacher 
shall  feel  that  what  he  does  is  philosophical,  and 
therefore  wise. 

The  only  way  to  achieve  success  is  to  apply  faith- 
fully the  means  at  hand.  Generations  of  children 
cannot  wait  for  perfection  in  methods  of  teaching ; 
but  teachers  of  primary  schools  ought  not  to  neglect 
any  opportunity  which  promises  aid  to  them  as  indi- 
viduals, or  progress  in  the  profession  that  they  have 
chosen.  As  teachers  improve,  so  do  schools  ;  and, 
as  schools  improve,  so  do  teachers.  The  influence 
exerted  by  teachers  is  first  beneficial  to  pupils,  but, 
as  a  result,  we  soon  have  a  class  of  better  qualified 
teachers.  With  these  ideas  of  the  importance  of 
the  teacher's  vocation  to  primary  instruction,  and, 
consequently,  to  all  good  learning,  it  is  not  strange 


Female  Education.  237 

that  I  place  a  high  value  upon  professional  training. 
A  degree  of  professional  training  more  or  less  de- 
sirable is,  no  doubt,  furnished  by  every  school ;  but 
the  admission  does  not  in  any  manner  detract  from 
the  force  of  the  statement  that  a  young  man  or 
woman  well  qualified  in  the  branches  to  be  taught, 
yet  without  experience,  may  be  strengthened  and 
prepared  for  the  work  of  teaching,  by  devoting  six, 
twelve,  or  eighteen  months,  under  competent  in- 
structors, in  company  with  a  hundred  other  persons 
having  a  similar  object  in  view,  to  the  study,  exam- 
ination, and  discussion,  of  those  subjects  and  topics 
which  are  sometimes  connected  with,  and  sometimes 
independent  of,  the  text-books,  but  which  are  of 
daily  value  to  the  teacher. 

At  present  only  a  portion  of  this  necessary  pro- 
fessional training  can  be  given  in  the  normal 
schools.  If,  however,  as  I  trust  may  sometimes  be 
the  case,  none  should  be  admitted  but  those  who 
are  already  qualified  in  the  branches  to  be  taught, 
the  time  of  attendance  might  be  diminished,  and 
the  number  of  graduates  proportionately  increased. 
There  are  about  one  hundred  high  schools  in  the 
state,  and,  within  the  sphere  of  their  labors,  they  are 
not  equalled  by  any  institutions  that  the  world  has 
se§n.  Young  men  are  fitted  for  the  colleges,  for 
mechanical,  manufacturing,  commercial,  agricultural, 


238  Female  Education. 

and  scientific  labors,  and  young  men  and  young 
women  are  prepared  for  the  general  duties  of  life. 
They  are  also  furnishing  a  large  number  of  well- 
qualified  teachers.  Some  may  say  that  with  these 
results  we  ought  to  be  content.  Regarding  only 
the  past,  they  are  entirely  satisfactory  ;  but,  ani- 
mated with  reasonable  hopes  concerning  the  future, 
we  claim  something  more  and  better.  It  is  not 
disguised  that  the  members  of  normal  schools,  when 
admitted,  do  not  sustain  an  average  rank  in  scholar- 
ship with  graduates  of  high  schools.  This  is  a 
misfortune  from  which  relief  is  sought.  It  is  a  sug- 
gestion, diffidently  made,  yet  with  considerable  con- 
fidence in  its  practicability  and  value,  that  graduates 
of  high  schools  will  often  obtain  additional  and 
necessary  preparation  by  attending  a  normal  school, 
if  for  the  term  of  six  mouths  only.  And  I  am  satis- 
fied, beyond  all  reasonable  doubt,  that,  when  the 
normal  schools  receive  only  those  whose  education 
is  equivalent  to  that  now  given  in  the  high  schools, 
a  body  of  teachers  will  be  sent  out  who  will  surpass 
the  graduates  of  any  other  institution,  and  whoso 
average  professional  attainments  and  practical  excel- 
lence will  meet  the  highest  reasonable  public  expect- 
ation. Nor  is  it  claimed  that  this  result  will  be  due 
to  anything  known  or  practised  in  normal  schools  that 
may  not  be  known  and  practised  elsewhere  ;  but  it 


Female  Education.  239 

is  rather  attributable  to  the  fact  that  in  these  in- 
stitutions the  attention  of  teachers  and  pupils  is 
directed  almost  exclusively  to  the  work  of  teach- 
ing, and  the  means  of  preparation.  The  studies, 
thoughts,  and  discussions,  are  devoted  to  this  end. 
If,  with  such  opportunities,  there  should  be  no  prog- 
ress, we  should  be  led  to  doubt  all  our  previous 
knowledge  of  human  character,  and  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  youthful  mind. 

And  now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  before  I  con- 
clude, allow  me  to  remove,  or  at  least  to  lessen,  an 
impression  that  these  remarks  are  calculated  to  pro- 
duce. I  have  assumed  that  teaching  is  a  profession 
—  an  arduous  profession  —  and  that  perfection  has 
not  yet  been  attained.  I  have  assumed,  also,  that 
there  are  many  persons  engaged  in  teaching,  espe- 
cially in  the  primary  and  mixed  district  schools, 
whose  qualifications  are  not  as  great  as  they  ought 
to  be.  But  let  it  not  be  thence  inferred  that  I  am 
dissatisfied  with  our  teachers  and  schools.  There 
has  been  continual  progress  in  education,  and  a  large 
share  of  this  progress  is  due  to  teachers  ;  but  the 
time  has  not  yet  come  when  we  can  wisely  fold 
our  arms,  and  accept  the  allurements  of  undisturbed 
repose.  / 

Nor  have  I  sought,  on  this  occasion,  to  present 
even  an  outline  of  a  system  of  female  education.  In 


240  Female  Education. 

all  the  public  institutions  of  learning  among  us,  it 
should  be  as  comprehensive,  as  minute,  as  exact,  as 
that  furnished  for  youth  of  the  other  sex.  Nor  is  it 
necessary  to  concern  ourselves  about  the  effect  of 
this  liberal  culture  upon  the  character  and  fortunes 
of  society.  I  do  not  anticipate  any  sudden  or  dis- 
astrous effects.  The  right  of  education  is  a  common 
right ;  and  it  is  unquestionably  the  right  of  woman 
to  assert  her  rights  ;  and  it  is  a  wrong  and  sin  if 
we  withhold  any,  even  the  least.  Having  faith  in 
humanity,  and  faith  in  God,  let  us  not  shrink  from 
the  privilege  we  enjoy  of  offering  to  all,  without 
reference  to  sex  or  condition,  the  benefits  of  a  public 
and  liberal  system  of  education,  which  seeks,  in  an 
alliance  with  virtue  and  religion,  whose  banns  are 
forbidden  by  none,  to  enlighten  the  ignorant,  restrain 
and  reform  the  depraved,  and  penetrate  all  society 
with  good  learning  and  civilization,  so  that  the  high- 
est idea  of  a  well-ordered  state  shall  be  realized  in  an 
advanced  and  advancing  condition  of  individual  and 
family  life. 


THE  INFLUENCE,  DUTIES,  AND  REWARDS,  OF  TEACH- 
ERS. 

[A  Lecture  delivered  at  Teachers'  Institutes.] 

IT  is  the  purpose,  and  we  believe  that  it  will  be 
the  destiny,  of  Massachusetts,  to  build  up  a  com- 
paratively perfect  system  of  public  instruction.  To 
this  antiquity  did  not  aspire  ;  and  it  is  the  just  boast 
of  modern  times,  and  especially  of  the  American 
States,  that  learning  is  not  the  amusement  of  a  few 
only,  whom  wealth  and  taste  have  led  into  its  paths, 
but  that  it  is  encouraged  by  governments,  and  cher- 
ished by  the  whole  people.  Antiquity  had  its  schools 
and  teachers  ;  but  the  latter  were,  for  the  most 
part,  founders  of  sects  in  politics,  morals,  philos- 
ophy, religion,  or  the  habits  of  daily  life  ;  while  its 
schools  were  frequented  and  sustained  by  those  who 
sought  to  build  on  the  civilization  of  the  times  such 
structures  as  their  tastes  conceived  or  their  opinions 
dictated. 

There  were  not  in  Athens  or  Rome,  according  to 
the  American  idea,  any  schools  for  the  people  ;  and 
Carlyle,  Brownson,  and  Emerson,  are  such  teachers 
21  (241) 


242  Influence,  Duties,  and 

in  kind,  though  not  in  power  and  influence,  as  were 
Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle.  These  men  were 
leaders  as  well  as  teachers,  and  their  followers  were 
disciples  and  controversialists  rather  than  pupils. 
But  it  is  not  possible  for  modern  leaders  in  politics, 
philosophy,  and  social  life,  to  rival  the  ancients. 
Manual  labor  is  not  more  divided  and  subdivided 
than  is  the  influence  of  the  human  intellect.  The 
newspaper  has  inspired  every  man  with  the  love  of 
self-judgment,  and  the  common  school  has  qualified 
him,  in  some  degree,  for  its  exercise.  The  ancients, 
whose  names  and  fame  have  come  down  to  us,  taught 
l«y  conversations,  discussions,  and  lectures  ;  the  mod- 
erns, as  Carlyle,  Brownson,  and  Emerson,  by  lectures, 
essays,  and  reviews.  But  these  systems  are  quite 
inadequate  to  meet  the  wants  of  American  civiliza- 
tion. 

Indeed,  however  men  of  talent  may  strive,  there 
cannot  be  another  Socrates,  Plato,  or  Aristotle  ;  for 
the  printing-press  has  come,  and  their  occupation 
has  gone.  Teachers  were  philosophers,  pupils  were 
followers  and  disciples,  while  learning  was  devoted 
to  the  support  of  speculations  and  theories. 

But,  while  we  have  no  such  teachers  as  those  of 
Athens,  and  need  no  such  schools  as  they  founded, 
we  have  teachers  and  schools  whose  character  and 
genius  correspond  to  the  age  in  which  we  live. 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  243 

Teaching  is  a  profession  ;  not  merely  an  ignoble 
pursuit,  nor  a  toy  of  scholastic  ambition,  but  a  pro- 
fession enjoying  the  public  confidence,  requiring 
great  talents,  demanding  great  industry,  and  secur- 
ing, permit  me  to  say,  great  rewards.  To  be  the 
leader  of  a  sect  or  the  founder  of  a  school,  is  some- 
thing ;  but  the  acceptable  teacher  is  superior  to 
either  ;  he  is  the  first  and  chief  exponent  of  a  popu- 
lar sovereignty  which  seeks  happiness  and  immortal- 
ity for  itself  by  elevating  and  refining  the  parts  of 
which  it  is  composed.  The  ancient  teacher  gathered 
his  hearers,  disciples,  and  pupils,  in  the  streets, 
groves,  and  public  squares.  The  modern  teacher  is 
comparatively  secluded  ;  but  let  him  not  hence  infer 
that  he  is  without  influence.  Socrates,  Plato,  and 
Aristotle,  had  their  triumphs  ;  but  none  more  dis- 
tinguished than  that  of  a  Massachusetts  teacher, 
who,  at  the  age  of  fourscore  years,  on  a  festive  day, 
received  from  his  former  pupils  —  and  among  them 
were  the  most  eminent  of  the  land  —  sincere  and 
affectionate  assurances  of  esteem  and  gratitude.  The 
pupil  may  be  estranged  from  the  master  in  opinion, 
for  our  system  does  not  concern  itself  with  opinions, 
political  or  religious  ;  but  the  faithful  teacher  will 
always  find  the  evidence  of  his  fidelity  in  the  lives 
of  those  intrusted  to  his  care.  No  position  is  more 
important  than  the  teacher's  ;  and  his  influence  is 


244  Influence,  Duties,  and 

next  to  that  of  the  parent.  It  is  his  high  and  noble 
province  to  touch  the  youthful  mind,  test  its  quality, 
and  develop  its  characteristics.  He  often  stands  in 
the  place  of  the  parent.  He  aids  in  giving  charac- 
ter to  the  generations  of  men  ;  which  is  at  once  a 
higher  art  and  a  purer  glory  than  distinguishes  those 
who  build  the  walls  of  cities,  or  lay  the  foundations 
of  empires.  The  cities  which  contested  for  the  honor 
of  being  the  birthplace  of  Homer  are  forgotten,  or 
remembered  only  because  they  contested  for  the 
honor,  while  Homer  himself  is  immortal.  If,  then, 
the  mere  birth  of  a  human  being  is  an  honor  to  a 
city,  how  illustrious  the  distinction  of  those  who 
guide  the  footsteps  of  youth  along  the  rugged  paths 
of  learning,  and  develop  in  a  generation  the  princi- 
ples of  integrity  and  mercy,  justice  and  freedom, 
government  and  humanity  !  If  in  a  lifetime  of  toil 
the  teacher  shall  bring  out  of  the  mass  of  common 
minds  one  Franklin,  or  Howard,  or  Channing,  or 
Bowditch,  he  will  have  accomplished  more  than  is 
secured  by  the  devotees  of  wealth,  or  the  disciples 
of  pleasure.  As  the  man  is  more  important  than  the 
mere  philosopher,  so  is  the  modern  teacher  more 
elevated  than  the  ancient. 

The  true  teacher  takes  hold  of  the  practical  and 
elementary,  as  distinguished  from  the  learning  whose 
chief  or  sole  value  is  in  display.  Present  gratifica- 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  245 

tion  is  desirable,  especially  to  parents  and  teachers  ; 
but  it  may  be  secured  at  the  cost  of  solid  learning 
and  real  progress.  This  is  a  serious  error  among 
us,  and  it  will  not  readily  be  abandoned  ;  but  it  is 
the  duty  of  teachers,  and  of  all  parents  who  are 
friends  to  genuine  learning,  to  aid  in  its  'removal. 
We  are  inclined  to  treat  the  period  of  school-life  as 
though  it  covered  the  entire  time  that  ought  prop- 
erly to  be  devoted  to  education.  The  first  result  — 
a  result  followed  by  pernicious  consequences  —  is 
that  the  teacher  is  expected  to  give  instruction  in 
every  branch  that  the  pupil,  as  child,  youth,  or  adult, 
may  need  to  know.  It  is  impossible  that  instruction 
so  varied  should  always  be  good.  Learning  is  knowl- 
edge of  subjects  based  and  built  upon  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  their  elements.  The  path  of 
duty,  therefore,  should  lead  the  teacher  to  make  his 
instruction  thorough  in  a  few  branches,  rather  than 
attempt  to  extend  it  over  a  great  variety  of  subjects. 
This,  to  the  teacher  who  is  employed  in  a  district  or 
town  but  three  or  six  months,  is  a  hard  course,  and 
many  may  not  be  inclined  to  pursue  it.  Something, 
no  doubt,  must  be  yielded  to  parents  ;  but  they,  too, 
should  be  educated  to  a  true  view  of  their  children's 
interests.  As  the  world  is,  a  well-spoken  declama- 
tion is  more  gratifying  to  parents,  and  more  credita- 
ble to  teachers,  than  the  most  careful  training  in  the 
21* 


246  Influence,  Duties,  and 

vowel-sounds ;  yet  the  latter  is  infinitely  more  val- 
uable to  the  scholar.  Neither  progress  in  the 
languages  nor  knowledge  of  mathematics  can  com- 
pensate for  the  want  of  a  thorough  etymological 
discipline.  This  training  should  be  primary  in  point 
of  time,  as  well  as  elementary  in  character ;  and  a 
classical  education  is  no  adequate  compensation. 

Elements  are  all-important  to  the  teacher  and  the 
student.  It  is  not  possible  to  have  an  idea  of  a 
square  without  some  idea  of  a  straight  line,  nor  to 
express  with  pencil  or  words  the  arc  of  a  circle  with- 
out a  previous  conception  of  .the  curve.  Combination 
follows  in  course.  We  are  driven  to  it.  Our  own 
minds,  all  nature,  all  civilization,  tend  to  the  combi- 
nation of  elements. 

We  think  fast,  live  fast,  learn  fast,  and,  as  the 
fashion  of  the  world  requires  a  knowledge  of  many 
things,  we  crowd  the  entire  education  of  our  children 
into  the  short  period  of  school-life.  Here,  and  just 
here,  public  sentiment  ought  to  relievo  the  teacher 
by  reforming  itself.  * 

It  should  be  understood  that  school-life  is  to  be 
devoted  to  the  thorough  discipline  of  the  mind  to 
study,  and  to  an  acquaintance  with  those  simple, 
elementary  branches,  which  are  the  foundation  of  all 
good  learning.  When  a  knowledge  of  the  elements 
is  necnred,  then  the  languages,  mathematics,  and  all 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  247 

science,  may  be  pursued  with  enthusiasm  and  suc- 
cess by  a  class  of  men  well  educated  in  every  de- 
partment. Public  sentiment  must  allow  the  teacher 
to  give  careful  instruction  in  reading  and  spelling, 
for  example,  in  the  most  comprehensive  meaning  of 
those  terms  —  in  the  sound  and  power  of  letters, 
in  the  composition  and  use  of  words,  and  in  the 
natural  construction  of  sentences.  This,  of  course, 
includes  a  knowledge  of  grammar,  not  as  a  dry,  phi- 
lological study,  but  as  a  science  ;  not  as  composed  of 
arbitrary  rules,  merely,  but  as  the  common  and  best 
judgment  of  men  concerning  the  use  and  power  of 
language,  of  which  rules  and  definitions  are  but  an 
imperfect  expression. 

Nor  do  we  herein  assign  the  teacher  to  neglect  or 
obscurity.  He,  as  well  as  others,  must  have  faith  in 
the  future.  His  reward  may  be  distant,  but  it  is 
certain. 

It  is,  however,  likely  that  the  labors  of  a  faithful 
elementary  teacher  will  be  appreciated  immediately, 
and  upon  the  scene  of  his  toil.  But,  if  they  are  not, 
his  pupils,  advancing  in  age  and  increasing  in  knowl- 
edge, will  remember  with  gratitude  and  in  words  the 
self-sacrificing  labors  of  their  master. 

We  are  not  so  constituted  as  to  labor  without 
motive.  With  some  the  motive  is  high,  with  others 
it  is  low  and  grovelling.  The  teacher  must  be  him- 


248  Influence,  Duties,  and 

self  elevated,  or  he  cannot  elevate  otners.  The 
pupil  may,  indeed,  advance  to  a  higher  sphere  than 
that  occupied  by  the  teacher  ;  but  it  is  only  because 
he  draws  from  a  higher  fountain  elsewhere.  In  such 
cases  the  success  of  the  pupil  is  not  the  success  of 
the  master.  He  who  labors  as  a  teacher  for  mere 
money,  or  for  temporary  fame,  which  is  even  less 
valuable,  cannot  choose  a  calling  more  ignoble,  nor 
can  he  ever  rise  to  a  higher  ;  for  his  sordid  motives 
bring  all  pursuits  to  the  low  level  of  his  own  nature. 
Yet  it  is  not  to  be  assumed  that  the  teacher,  more 
than  the  clergyman,  is  to  labor  without  pecuniary 
compensation  ;  for,  while  money  should  not  be  the 
sole  object  of  any  man's  life,  it  is,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  our  civilization,  essential  to  the  happiness 
of  us  all.  Wealth,  properly  acquired  and  properly 
used,  may  become  a  means  of  self-education.  It 
purchases  relief  from  the  harassing  toil  of  uninter- 
rupted manual  labor.  It  is  the  only  introduction  we 
can  have  to  the  thoroughfares  of  travel  by  which  we 
are  made  acquainted  personally  with  the  globe  that 
we  inhabit.  It  brings  to  our  firesides  books,  paint- 
ings, and  statuary,  by  which  we  learn  something 
of  the  world  as  it  is  and  as  it  was.  It  gives  us 
the  telescope  and  the  microscope,  by  whose  agency 
we  are  able  to  appreciate,  even  though  but  imper- 
fectly, the  immensity  of  creation  on  the  one  hand, 


Re  wards' of  Teachers.  249 

and  its  infinity  on  the  other.  The  teacher  is  not  to 
labor  without  money,  nor  to  despise  it  more  than 
other  men  ;  and  the  public  might  as  well  expect 
the  free  services  of  the  minister,  lawyer,  physician, 
or  farmer,  as  to  expect  the  gratuitous  or  cheap 
education  of  their  children.  While  the  teacher  is 
educating  others,  he  must  also  educate  himself. 
This  he  cannot  do  without  both  leisure  and  money. 
The  advice  of  lago  is,  therefore,  good  advice  for 
teachers :  "  Go,  make  money.  *  *  Put  money 
enough  in  your  purse. ".  The  teacher's  motives 
should  be  above  mere  gain  ;  though  this  view  of 
the  subject  does  not,  as  some  might  infer,  lead  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  ought  to  labor  for  inade- 
quate compensation. 

When  George  III.  was  first  insane,  Dr.  Willis  was 
called  to  the  immediate  personal  charge  of  the  king. 
Dr.  Willis  had  been  educated  to  the  church,  and  a 
living  had  been  assigned  him  ;  but,  becoming  inter- 
ested in  the  subject  of  insanity,  he  had  established 
an  asylum,  and  gained  a  distinguished  position  in 
his  new  profession.  The  suffering  monarch  was 
sadly  puzzled  to  know  why  Dr.  Willis  was  with  him, 
and  how  he  had  been  brought  there.  The  custodian 
was  not  very  definite  in  his  explanations,  but  sug- 
gested that  he  came  to  comfort  the  king  in  his  afflic- 
tions ;  and,  said  he,  "You  know  that  our  Saviour 


250  Influence,  Duties,  and 

went  about  doing  good."  —  "Yes,"  said  the  king, 
"but  he  never  received  seven  hundred  pounds  a 
year  for  it."  This  was  good  wit,  especially  good 
royal  wit,  because  unexpected.  But  there  is  no 
reason  why  actual  monarcbs  of  England,  or  coming 
monarchs  of  America,  should  be  treated  or  taught 
gratuitously.  The  compensation,  the  living  of  the 
teacher,  is  one  thing  ;  the  motive  may  and  ought  to 
be  quite  different.  The  teacher  should  labor  in  his 
profession  because  he  loves  it,  because  he  does  good 
in  it,  and  because  he  can  in  that  sphere  answer  a 
high  purpose  of  existence.  These  being  the  motives 
of  the  teacher,  he  should  educate,  draw  out,  cor- 
responding ones  in  his  pupils. 

The  teacher  is  not  to  create  —  he  is  to  draw  out. 
Every  child  has  the  germs  of  many,  and,  it  may  be, 
quite  different  qualities  of  character.  Look  at  the 
infant.  It  is  so  constituted  that  it  may  have  a  stal- 
wart arm,  broad  chest,  and  well-rounded,  vigorous 
muscles  ;  but  yet  it  may  come  to  adult  age  destitute 
of  these  physical  excellences.  Yet  you  will  not  say 
that  the  elements  did  not  exist  in  the  child.  They 
were  there  ;  but,  being  neglected,  they  followed  a  law 
of  our  nature,  that  tho  development  of  a  faculty 
depends  upon  its  exercise.  Nature  will  develop 
some  quality  in  every  man  ;  for  our  existence  de- 
mands tho  exercise  of  a  part  of  our  faculties. 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  251 

The  faculty  used  will  be  ^developed  in  excess  as 
compared  with  other  faculties.  It  is  the  business 
of  the  teacher  to  aid  nature.  For  the  most  part, 
he  must  stimulate,  encourage,  draw  out,  develop, 
though  it  may  happen  that  he  will  be  required  oc- 
casionally to  check  a  tendency  which  threatens  to 
absorb  or  overshadow  all  the  others.  He  must,  at 
any  rate,  prevent  the  growth  of  those  powers  which 
tend  towards  the  savage  state. 

While  the  teacher  creates  nothing,  he  must  so  draw 
out  the  qualities  of  the  child  that  it  may  attain  to 
perfect  manhood.  He  moulds,  he  renders  symmet- 
rical, the  physical,  the  intellectual,  the  moral  man. 
Nature  sometimes  does  this  herself,  as  though  she 
would  occasionally  furnish  a  model  man  for  our  imita- 
tion, as  she  has  given  lines,  and  forms,  and  colors, 
which  all  artists  of  all  ages  shall  copy,  but  cannot 
equal.  But,  do  the  best  we  can,  education  is  more 
or  less  artificial  ;  and  hence  the  child  of  the  school 
will  suffer  by  comparison  with  the  child  of  nature, 
when  she  presents  him  in  her  best  forms. 

In  a  summer  ramble  I  met  a  man  so  dignified  as 
to  attract  the  notice  and  command  the  respect  of 
all  who  knew  him.  I  was  with  him  upon  the  lakes 
and  mountains  several  days  and  nights,  and  never 
for  a  moment  did  the  manliness  of  his  character 
desert  him.  I  have  seen  no  other  person  who 


252  Influence,  Duties,  and 

could  boast  such  physical  beauty.  Accustomed  to 
a  hunter's  life  ;  carrying  often  a  pack  of  thirty  or 
forty  or  fifty  pounds ;  sleeping  upon  the  ground 
or  a  bed  of  boughs  ;  able,  if  necessity  or  interest 
demanded,  to  travel  in  the  woods  the  ordinary  dis- 
tance which  a  good  horse  would  pass  over  upon 
our  roads ;  with  every  organ  of  the  arm,  the  leg,  the 
trunk,  fully  expressed  ;  with  a  manly,  kind,  intelligent 
countenance,  a  beard  uncut,  in  the  vigor  of  early 
manhood,  he  seemed  a  model  which  the  statuaries  of 
Greece  and  Rome  desired  to  see,  but  did  not.  He 
had  at  once  the  bearing  of  a  soldier  and  the  charac- 
teristics of  a  gentleman.  He  was  ignorant  of  gram- 
matical rules  and  definitions,  yet  his  conversation 
would  have  been  accepted  in  good  circles  of  New 
England  society.  This  man  had  his  faults,  but  they 
were  not  grievous  faults,  nor  did  they  in  any  manner 
affect  the  qualities  of  which  I  have  spoken. 

This  is  what  nature  sometimes  does  ;  this  is  what 
we  should  always  strive  to  do,  extending  this  sym- 
metry, if  possible,  to  the  moral  as  well  as  to  the 
intellectual  and  physical  organization.  This  man  is 
ignorant  of  science,  of  books,  of  the  world  of  letters, 
and  the  world  of  art,  yet  we  respect  him.  Why  ? 
Because  nature  has  chosen  to  illustrate  in  him  hei 
own  principles,  power  and  beauty. 

That  we  may  draw  out  the  qualities  of  the  human 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  253 

mind  as  they  exist,  we  must  first  appreciate  our  in- 
fluence upon  childhood  and  youth.  Our  own  expe- 
rience is  the  best  evidence  of  what  that  influence  is. 
All  along  our  lives  the  lessons  of  childhood  return  to 
us.  The  hills  and  valleys,  the  lakes,  rivers,  and  riv- 
ulets, of  our  early  home,  come  not  in  clearer  visions 
before  us  than  do  the  exhortations  to  industry,  the 
incentives  to  progress,  the  lessons  of  learning,  and 
the  principles  of  truth,  uttered  and  offered  by  the 
teachers  of  early  years.  In  the  same  way  the  lines 
of  the  poet,  the  reflections  of  the  philosopher,  the 
calm  truths  of  the  historian,  read  once  and  often 
carelessly,  and  for  many  years  forgotten,  return  as 
voices  of  inspiration,  and  are  evermore  with  us. 

That  the  teacher  may  have  influence,  his  ear  must 
be  open  to  the  voice  of  truth,  and  his  mouth  must  be 
liberal  with  words  of  consolation,  encouragement, 
and  advice.  He  rules  in  a  little  world,  and  the 
scales  of  justice  must  be  balanced  evenly  in  his 
hands.  He  should  go  in  and  out  before  his  scholars 
free  from  partiality  or  prejudice  ;  indifferent  to  the 
voice  of  envy  or  detraction  ;  shunning  evil  and  emu- 
lous of  good  ;  patient  of  inquiries  in  the  hours  of 
duty  ;  filled  with  the  spirit  of  industry  in  his  moments 
of  leisure  ;  gathering  up  and  spreading  before  his  pu- 
pils the  choicest  gems  of  literature,  art,  and  science, 
22 


254  Influence,  Duties,  and 

that  they  may  be  early  and  truly  inspired  with  the 
love  of  learning. 

The  public  school  is  a  little  world,  and  the  teacher 
rules  therein.  It  contains  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the 
virtuous  and  the  corrupt,  the  studious  and  the  in- 
different, the  timid  and  the  brave,  the  fearful  and  the 
hearts  elate  with  hope  and  courage.  Life  is  there  no 
cheat ;  it  wears  no  mask,  it  assumes  no  unnatural 
positions,  but  presents  itself  as  it  is.  Deformed  and 
repulsive  in  some  of  its  features,  yet  to  him  whose 
eye  is  as  quick  to  discover  its  beauty  as  its  deform- 
ity, its  harmony  as  its  discord,  there  is  always  a 
bright  spot  on  which  he  maygaze,  and  a  fond  hope 
to  which  he  may  cling.  Artificial  life,  whether  in 
the  select  school  or  the  select  party,  tends  to  weaken 
our  faith  in  humanity  ;  and  a  want  of  faith  in  our 
race  is  an  omen  of  ill-success  in  life.  Teachers 
should  have  faith  in  humanity,  and  should  labor  con- 
stantly to  inspire  others  with  the  belief  that  the  true 
law  of  our  nature  is  the  law  of  progress. 

Those  who  come  early  in  life  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  many  cannot  bo  moved  by  the  higher  sentiments 
and  ideas  which  control  a  few  favored  mortals,  cease 
to  labor  for  the  advancement  of  the  race.  They  con- 
sequently lose  their  hold  upon  society,  and  society 
neglects  them.  For  such  men  there  can  be  no 

8UCCCR8. 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  255 

Others,  like  Jefferson  and  Chaiming,  never  lose 
confidence  in  their  species,  and  their  species  never 
lose  confidence  in  them.  When  the  teacher  comes 
to  believe  that  the  world  is  worse  than  it  was,  and 
never  can  be  better,  he  need  wait  for  no  other  evi- 
dence that  his  days  of  usefulness  are  over. 

The  school-room  will  teach  the  child,  even  as  the 
prison  will  instruct  maturity  and  age,  that  few  per- 
sons are  vicious  in  the  extreme,  and  that  no  one 
lives  without  somje  ennobling  traits  of  character  and 
life.  The  teacher's  faith  is  the  measure  of  the  teach- 
er's usefulness.  It  is  to  him  what  conception  is  to 
the  artist ;  and,  if  the  sculptor  can  see  the  image  of 
grace  and  beauty  in  the  fresh-quarried  marble,  so 
must  the  teacher  see  the  full  form  of  the  coming 
man  in  the  trembling  child  or  awkward  youth. 

The  teacher  ought  not  to  grow  old.  To  be  sure, 
time  will  lay  its  hand  on  him,  as  it  does  on  others  ; 
but  he  should  always  cultivate  in  himself  the  feel- 
ings, sentiments,  and  even  ambitions  of  youth.  Far 
enough  removed  from  his  pupils  in  age  and  position 
to  stimulate  them  by  his  example,  arid  encourage 
them  by  his  precepts,  he  should  yet  be  so  near  them 
that  he  can  appreciate  the  steps  and  struggles  which 
mark  their  progress  in  the  path  of  learning.  There 
must  be  some  points  of  contact,  something  common 
to  teacher  and  pupils.  Indeed,  for  us  all  it  is  true 


256  Influence,  Duties,  and 

that  age  loses  nothing  of  its  dignity  or  respect  when 
it  accepts  the  sentiments  and  sports  of  youth  and 
childhood.  But  above  all  should  the  teacher  remem- 
ber the  common  remark  of  La  Place,  in  his  Celestial 
Mechanics,  and  the  observation  of  Dr.  Bowditch 
upon  it.  "  Whenever  I  meet  in  La  Place  with  the 
words,  'Thus  it  plainly  appears/  I  am  sure  that 
hours,  and  perhaps  days,  of  hard  study,  will  alone 
enable  me  to  discover  how  it  plainly  appears."  The 
good  teacher  will  seek  first  to  estimate  each  schol- 
ar's capacity,  and  then  adapt  his  instructions  accord- 
ingly. Though  he  may  be  far  removed  from  his 
pupils  in  attainments,  he  should  be  able  to  mark  the 
steps  by  which  ordinary  minds  pass  from  common 
principles  to  their  noblest  application. 

This  observation  may  by  some  be  deemed  unnec- 
essary ;  but  there  are  living  teachers  who,  having 
mastered  the  noblest  sciences,  are  unable  to  appre- 
ciate and  lead  ordinary  minds. 

The  teacher  must  be  in  earnest.  This  is  the  price 
of  success  in  every  profession.  The  law,  it  is  said, 
is  a  jealous  mistress,  and  permits  no  rivals  ;  the 
indifferent,  careless  minister  is  but  a  blind  leader 
of  the  blind,  and  the  "  undevout  astronomer  is 
mad.1' 

Sincerity  of  soul  and  earnestness  of  purpose  will 
achieve  success.  According  to  an  eminent  author- 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  257 

ity,  there  are  three  kinds  of  great  men  :  those  who  are 
born  great,  those  who  achieve  greatness,  and  those 
who  have  greatness  thrust  upon  them.  If  we  take 
greatness  of  birth  to  be  in  greatness  of  soul  and 
intellect,  and  not  in  the  mere  accident  of  ancestry,  it 
is  such  only  who  have  greatness  thrust  upon  them  ; 
for  the  world,  after  all,  rarely  makes  a  mistake  in  this 
respect.  But  there  is  a  larger  and  a  nobler  class, 
whose  greatness,  whatever  it  is,  must  be  achieved  ; 
and  to  this  class  I  address  myself. 

Success  is  practicable.  There  need  be  no  failures. 
A  man  of  reflection  will  soon  find  whether  he  can 
succeed  in  his  pursuit ;  if  not,  he  has  mistaken  his 
calling,  or  neglected  the  proper  means  of  success. 
In  either  case,  a  remedy  is  at  hand.  If  a  teacher  is 
indifferent  to  his  calling,  and  cannot  bring  himself  to 
pursue  it  with  ardor,  it  is  a  duty  to  himself,  to  his 
profession,  to  his  pupils,  to  abandon  it  at  once.  It 
is  idle  to  suppose  that  we  are  doing  good  in  a  work 
to  which  we  are  not  attracted  by  our  sympathies,  and 
in  which  we  are  not  sustained  by  our  faith  and  hopes. 
The  men  who  succeed  are  the  men  who  believe  that 
they  can  succeed.  The  men  who  fail  are  those  to 
whom  success  would  have  been  a  surprise.  There  is 
no  doubt  some  appropriate  pursuit  in  life  for  every 
man  of  ordinary  talents  ;  but  no  one  can  tell  whether 
he  has  found  it  for  himself  until  he  has  made  a  vig- 
22* 


258  Influence,  Duties,  and 

orous  and  persistent  application  of  his  powers.  If 
the  teacher  fail  to  do  this,  he  need  not  seek  for 
success  in  another  profession,  when  he  has  already 
declined  to  pay  its  price. 

The  choice  of  a  profession  is  one  of  the  great  acts 
of  life.  It  should  not  be  done  hastily,  nor  without  a 
careful  examination  and  just  appreciation  of  the  ele- 
ments of  character.  A  competent  teacher  may  aid 
his  pupils  in  this  respect.  A  mistake  in  occupation 
is  a  calamity  to  the  individual,  and  an  injury  to  the 
public.  Our  school-rooms  contain  artists,  farmers, 
mathematicians,  mechanics,  poets,  lawyers,  states- 
men, orators,  and  warriors ;  but  some  one  must  do 
for  them  what  Shakspeare  says  the  monarch  of  the 
hive  has  done  for  all  his  subjects  —  assigned  them 

"  Officers  of  sorts  ; 

Where  some,  like  magistrates,  correct  at  home  ; 
Others,  like  merchants,  venture  trade  abroad  ; 
Others,  like  soldiers,  armed  in  their  stings, 
Make  boot  upon  the  summer's  velvet  buds  ; 
Which  pillage,  they  with  merry  march  bring  home 
To  the  tent-royal  of  their  emperor  ; 
Who,  buaied  in  his  majesty,  surveys 
The  singing  masons,  building  roofs  of  gold  ; 
The  civil  citizens  kneading  up  the  honey  ; 
The  poor  mechanic  porters  crowding  in 
Their  heavy  burdens  at  his  narrow  gate  ; 
The  sad-eyed  justice,  with  his  surly  hum, 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  259 

Delivering  o'er  to  executors  pale 
The  lazy,  yawning  drone." 

Teachers  are  so  situated  that  they  may  give 
wholesome  advice  ;  while  parents  —  and  I  say  it 
with  respect  —  are  quite  likely,  under  the  influence 
of  an  instinctive  belief  that  their  children  are  fitted 
for  any  place  within  the  range  of  human  labor  or 
human  ambition,  to  make  fatal  mistakes.  While  all 
pursuits  and  professions,  if  honest,  are  equally  hon- 
orable, the  individual  selection  must  be  determined 
by  taste,  circumstances,  individual  habits,  and  often 
by  physical  facts.  It  is  not  for  one  person  to  do 
everything,  but  it  is  for  each  person  to  do  at  least 
one  thing  well.  As  a  general  rule,  the  painter,  who 
has  spent  his  youth  and  manhood  in  studying  the 
canvas,  had  better  not  study  the  stars  ;  and  the 
artist,  who  has  power  to  bring  the  form  of  life  from 
the  cold  marble,  has  no  right  to  solve  problems 
in  geometry,  weigh  planets,  or  calculate  eclipses. 
The  proper  choice  of  the  business  of  life  may  do 
much  to  perfect  our  social  system,  and  it  will  cer- 
tainly advance  our  material  prosperity.  There  is 
everywhere  in  our  civilization  mutual  dependence, 
and  there  must  be  mutual  support.  In  no  other 
w-dy  can  we  advance  to  our  destiny  as  becomes  an 
enlightened  people. 


260  Influence,  Duties,  and 

But  all  of  life  and  education,  either  to  pupil, 
teacher,  or  man,  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  school- 
room. The  common  period  of  school-life  is  sufficient 
only  for  elementary  education.  The  average  school- 
going  period  is  ten  years.  Of  this,  one-half  is  spent  in 
vacations  and  absences,  so  that  each  child  has  about 
five  years  of  school-life.  Only  one-fourth  of  each 
day  is  spent  in  the  school-room  ;  and  the  continuous 
attendance,  therefore,  is  about  fifteen  months,  equal 
to  the  time  which  most  of  us  give  to  sleep,  every 
four  or  five  years  of  our  existence.  This  view  leads 
me  to  say  again  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  teacher  in 
this  brief  period  to  lay  a  good  foundation  for  subse- 
quent scientific  and  classical  culture.  More  than 
this  cannot  be  accomplished  ;  and,  where  this  is 
accomplished,  and  a  taste  for  learning  is  formed, 
and  the  means  to  be  employed  are  comprehended,  a 
satisfactory  school-life  has  been  passed. 

Education  -*•  universal  education  —  is  a  necessity ; 
aud,  as  there  is  no  royal  road  to  learning,  so  there  is 
no  aristocracy  of  mental  power  depending  upon 
social  or  pecuniary  distinctions.  The  New  England 
colonies,  and  Massachusetts  first  of  all,  established 
the  system  of  education  now  called  universal  or 
public.  It  was  not  then  easy  to  comprehend  the 
principle  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  a  system  of 
public  instruction.  We  are  first  to  consider  that  a 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  261 

system  of  public  instruction  implies  a  system  of  uni- 
versal taxation.  The  only  rule  on  which  taxes  can 
be  levied  justly  is  that  the  object  sought  is  of  public 
necessity,  or  manifest  public  convenience.  It  quite 
often  happens  that  men  of  our  own  generation  are 
insensible  or  indifferent  to  the  true  relation  of  the 
citizen  to  the  cause  of  education.  Some  seem  to 
imagine  that  their  interest  in  schools,  and  of  course 
their  moral  obligation  to  support  them,  ceases  with 
the  education  of  their  own  children.  This  is  a  great 
error.  The  public  has  no  right  to  levy  a  tax  for  the 
education  of  any  particular  child,  or  family  of  chil- 
dren ;  but  its  right  of  taxation  commences  when  the 
education  or  plan  of  education  is  universal,  and 
ceases  whenever  the  plan  is  limited,  or  the  opera- 
tions of  the  system  are  circumscribed. 

No  man  can  be  taxed  properly  because  he  has 
children  of  his  own  to  educate  ;  this  may  be  a  reason 
with  some  for  cheerful  payment,  but  it  has  in  itself 
no  element  of  a  just  principle.  When,  however,  the 
people  decide  that  education  is  a  matter  of  public 
concern,  then  taxation  for  its  promotion  rests  upon 
the  same  foundation  as  the  most  important  depart- 
ments of  a  government.  Yet,  many  generations  of 
men  came  and  passed  away  before  the  doctrine  was 
received  that,  as  a  public  matter,  a  man  is  equally 
interested  in  the  education  of  his  neighbor's  children 


262  Influence,  Duties,  and 

as  in  the  education  of  his  own.  As  parents,  we  have 
a  special  interest  in  our  children  ;  as  citizens,  it  is 
this,  that  they  may  be  honest,  industrious,  and 
effective  in  their  labors.  This  interest  we  have  in 
all  children. 

The  safety  of  our  persons  and  property  demands 
their  honesty ;  our  right  to  be  exempt  from  pauper 
and  criminal  taxes  requires  habits  of  universal  indus- 
try ;  and  our  part  in  the  general  wealth  and  pros- 
perity is  increased  by  the  intelligent  application  of 
manual  labor  in  all  the  walks  of  life. 

A  man  may,  indeed,  be  proud  of  the  attainments 
of  his  family,  as  men  are  often  proud  of  their  ances- 
try ;  yet  they  possess  little  real  value  as  a  family 
possession.  The  pride  of  ancestry  has  no  value  ;  it 

"  Is  like  a  circle  in  the  water, 
Which  never  ceaseth  to  enlarge  itself 
Till,  by  broad-spreading,  it  disperse  to  naught." 

•  I  pass  from  this  digression  to  the  statement  that 
the  chief  means  of  self-improvement  are  five  :  Ob- 
servation, Conversation,  Reading,  Memory,  and  Re- 
flection. 

It  is  an  art  to  observe  well  —  to  go  through  the 
world  with  our  eyes  open  —  to  see  what  is  before  us. 
All  men  do  not  sec  alike,  nor  see  the  same  things. 
Our  powers  of  observation  take  on  the  hues  of  daily 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  263 

life.  The  artist,  in  a  strange  city  or  foreign  land, 
observes  only  the  specimens  of  taste  arid  beauty  or 
their  opposites  ;  the  mechanic  studies  anew  the  prin- 
ciples of  his  science  as  applied  to  the  purposes  of 
life  ;  the  architect  transfers  to  his  own  mind  the 
images  of  churches,  cathedrals,  temples,  and  pal- 
aces ;  while  the  philanthropist  rejoices  in  cellars  and 
lanes,  that  he  may  know  how  poverty  and  misery 
change  the  face  and  heart  of  man. 

An  American  artist,  following  the  lead  of  Mr. 
Jefferson,  has  beautifully  illustrated  the  nature  of 
the  power  of  observation.  We  do  not  see  even  the 
f  ices  of  our  common  friends  alike.  The  stranger 
observes  a  family  likeness  which  is  invisible  to  the 
familiar  acquaintance.  The  former  sees  only  the  few 
points  of  agreement,  and  decides  upon  them  ;  while 
the  latter  has  observed  and  studied  the  more  numer- 
ous points  of  difference,  until  he  is  blind  to  all  others. 
Hence  a  portrait  may  appear  true  to  a  stranger, 
which,  to  an  intimate  acquaintance,  is  barren  in  ex- 
pression, and  destitute  of  character.  Therefore,  the 
artist  wisely  and  properly  esteemed  himself  success- 
ful when  his  work  was  approved  by  the  wife  or  the 
mother.  The  world  around  us  is  full  of  knowledge. 
We  should  so  behold  it  as  to  be  instructed  by  all  that 
is.  The  distant  star  paints  its  image  on  our  eye  with 
a  ray  of  light  sent  forth  thousands  of  years  ago  ;  yet 


2G4  Influence,  Duties,  and 

its  lesson  is  not  of  itself,  but  of  the  universe  and  its 
mysteries,  and  of  the  Creator  out  of  whose  divine 
hand  all  things  have  come. 

Conversation  is  at  once  an  art,  an  accomplish- 
ment, and  a  science.  It  leads  to  valuable  practical 
results.  It  has  a  place,  and  by  no  means  an  inferior 
place,  in  the  schools.  Facts  stated,  questions  pro- 
posed, or  theories  illustrated,  in  conversation,  are 
permanently  impressed  upon  the  mind.  It  is  in  the 
power  of  the  teacher  to  communicate  much  informa- 
tion in  this  way,  and  it  is  in  the  power  of  us  all  to 
make  conversation  a  means  of  improvement. 

But,  when  the  pupil  leaves  the  school,  reading,  so 
systematic  and  thorough  as  to  be  called  study,  is,  no 
doubt,  the  best  culture  he  can  enjoy.  In  the  first 
place,  books  are  accessible  to  all,  and  they  may  be 
had  at  all  times.  They  can  be  used  in  moments  of 
leisure,  in  solitude,  in  the  hours  when  sleep  is  too 
proud  to  wait  on  us,  and  when  friends  are  absent  or 
indifferent  to  our  lot.  Conversation  may  be  patroniz- 
ing, or  it  may  leave  us  a  debtor ;  when  the  book- 
seller's bill  is  settled,  we  have  no  account  with  the 
author. 

If  I  am  permitted  to  speak  to  all,  pupils  as  well  as 
teachers,  I  am  inclined  to  say,  "Do  not  consider 
your  education  finished  when  you  leave  home  and 
the  school."  Your  labors  of  a  practical  sort  ought 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  265 

then  to  commence.  With  system  and  care,  you  may 
read  works  of  literature  and  history,  or  devote  your- 
self to  mathematics  in  the  higher  departments  of 
science.  As  a  general  thing,  however,  it  is  not  wise 
to  attempt  too  much  at  once.  The  custom  of  the 
schools  is  to  require  each  pupil  to  attend  to  several 
branches  at  the  same  time  ;  but  this  course  cannot  be 
recommended  to  adult  persons  with  disciplined  minds. 
It  seems  better  to  select  one  subject,  and  make  it 
the  leading  topic,  for  a  time,  of  our  studies  and 
thoughts.  It  may  also  be  proper  to  suggest  that 
works  of  fiction,  poetry,  and  romance,  ought  not  to 
be  read  until  the  mind  is  well  disciplined,  and  a  good 
foundation  of  solid  learning  is  laid.  Such  works 
tend  to  make  one's  style  of  thought  and  writing 
easy,  flowing,  and  agreeable  ;  but  they  are  also  cal- 
culated to  make  us  dissatisfied  with  the  more  sub- 
stantial labors  of  intellectual  life.  Having  obtained 
the  elements  of  learning,  one  thing  is  absolutely 
essential  —  system  in  study.  I  fancy  that  there  are 
two  prevalent  errors  among  us.  First,  that  men 
often  attain  intellectual  eminence  without  study  ; 
and,  secondly,  that  exclusive  devotion  to  books  is 
the  price  of  success.  Whoever  neglects  study, 
whatever  his  natural  abilities,  will  find  himself  dis- 
tanced by  inferior  men ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
whoever  will  devote  three  hours  each  day  to  the 
23 


266  Influence,  Duties,  and 

systematic  improvement  of  his  mind  will  finally  bo 
numbered  among  the  leading  persons  of  the  age. 
But,  while  we  observe,  converse,  and  read,  the 
power  of  memory  and  the  habit  of  reflection  should 
be  cultivated.  The  habit  of  reflection  is  a  great  aid 
to  the  memory,  and  together  they  enable  us  to  use 
the  knowledge  we  daily  acquire. 

No  previous  age  of  the  world  has  offered  so  great 
encouragement,  whether  in  fame  or  money,  to  men 
of  science  and  literature,  as  the  present.  Formerly, 
authors  flourished  under  the  patronage  of  princes,  or 
withered  by  their  neglect ;  but  now  they  are  encour- 
aged and  paid  by  the  people,  and  reap  where  they 
have  sown,  whether  kings  will  or  not.  The  poverty 
of  authors  was  once  proverbial  ;  but  now  the  only 
authors  who  are  poor  are  poor  authors.  Good  learn- 
ing, integrity,  and  ability,  are  well  compensated  in 
all  the  professions.  Some  one  remarked  to  Mr.  Web- 
ster, "That  the  profession  of  the  law  was  crowded." 
—  "  Yes/1  said  he,  "  rather  crowded  below,  but  there 
is  plenty  of  room  above."  Littleness  and  medioc- 
rity always  seek  the  paths  worn  by  superior  men  ; 
and  the  truly  illustrious  in  literature  and  science  are 
few  in  number  compared  with  those  who  attempt  to 
tread  in  the  footsteps  of  their  illustrious  predeces- 
sors ;  but  none  of  these  things  ought  to  deter  young 
men  of  ability,  industry,  and  integrity,  from  boldly 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  267 

entering  the  lists,  without  fear  of  failure.  The  world 
is  usually  just,  and  it  will  ultimately  award  the  to- 
kens of  its  approbation  to  those  who  deserve  success. 

And  there  is  a  happy  peculiarity  in  talent,  —  the 
variety  is  so  great  that  the  competition  is  small.  Of 
all  the  living  authors,  are  there  two  so  alike  that  they 
can  be  considered  competitors  or  rivals  ?  The  nation 
has  applauded  and  set  the  seal  of  its  approbation 
upon  the  eloquence  of  Henry,  Otis,  Adams,  Ames, 
Pinckney,  Wirt,  Calhoun,  Clay,  and  Webster,  not 
because  these  men  resembled  one  another,  but  be- 
cause each  had  peculiarities  and  excellences  of  his 
own.  The  same  variety  of  excellence  is  seen  in  liv- 
ing orators,  and  in  all  the  eloquence  and  learning 
of  antiquity  which  time  has  spared  and  history  has 
transmitted  to  us.  It  is  said  that  when  Aristides 
wrote  the  sentence  of  his  own  banishment  for  a  hum- 
ble and  unknown  enemy,  the  only  reason  given  by 
the  peasant  was  that  he  was  "tired  with  hearing 
him  called  the  Just."  And  the  world  sometimes 
appears  to  be  restive  under  the  influence  of  men  of 
talent ;  but  that  influence,  whether  always  agreeable 
or  not,  is  both  permanent  and  beneficial. 

Not  only  does  each  generation  respect  its  own 
leading  minds,  but  it  is  submissive  to  the  learning 
and  intellect  of  other  days.  The  influence  of  ancient 
Greece  still  remains.  We  copy  her  architecture,  bor- 


268  Influence,  Duties,  and 

row  from  her  philosophy,  admire  her  poetry,  and  bow 
with  humility  before  the  remnants  of  her  majestic 
literature.  So  the  policy  of  Rome  is  perceptible  in 
the  civilization  of  every  European  country,  and  it  is 
a  potent  element  in  the  laws  and  jurisprudence  of 
America.  The  eloquence  of  Demosthenes  has  been 
impressed  upon  every  succeeding  generation  of  civ- 
ilized men  ;  the  genius  of  Hannibal  has  stimulated 
the  ambition  of  warriors  from  his  own  time  to  that 
of  Napoleon  ;  while  Shakspeare's  power  has  been 
the  wonder  of  all  modern  authors  and  readers.  It 
is  a  great  representative  fact  in  mental  philosophy, 
which  we  cannot  too  much  contemplate,  that  Demos- 
thenes and  Cicero  not  only  enchained  the  thousands 
of  Greece  and  Rome  in  whose  presence  they  stood, 
but  that  their  eloquence  has  had  a  controlling  influ- 
ence over  myriads  to  whom  the  language  in  which 
they  spoke  was  unknown.  .The  words  that  the 
houseless  Homer  sung  in  the  streets  of  Smyrna 
have  commanded  the  admiration  of  all  later  times  ; 
and  even  the  mud  walls  around  Plato's  garden,  on 
which  are  preserved  the  fragments  of  statuary  with 
which  the  garden  was  once  adorned,  attract  and 
instruct  the  wanderers  and  students  about  Athens. 

But  let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  with  the  idea  that 
we  can  illustrate  anew  the  greatness  which  has  dis- 
tinguished a  few  men  only  in  all  the  long  centuries 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  269 

of  the  world's  existence.  Be  not  imitators  nor  fol- 
lowers of  other  men's  glory.  There  is  a  path  for 
each  one,  and  his  duty  lies  therein.  Yet  the  lead- 
ing men  of  the  world  are  lights  which  ought  not  to 
be  hid  from  the  young,  for  they  serve  to  show  the 
extent  of  the  field  in  which  human  powers  may  be 
employed.  The  rule  of  the  successful  life  is  to  neg- 
lect no  present  opportunity  of  good  either  to  yourself 
or  to  others  ;  and  the  rule  of  the  successful  student 
is  to  gather  information  from  whatever  source  he 
may,  not  doubting  that  it  will  prove  useful  to  him- 
self or  to  his  fellow-men. 

Our  own  age  has  furnished  two  men,  —  one  living, 
the  other  dead,  —  quite  opposite  in  talents  and  at- 
tainments, whose  power  and  influence  may  not  have 
been  surpassed  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  I  speak 
of  Kossuth  and  Webster.  Our  history  has  no  par- 
allel for  the  first.  Most  men,  young  or  old,  gay 
or  severe,  radical  or  conservative,  were  touched  by 
his  mournful  strains,  and  influenced  by  his  magio 
words.  He  came  from  a  land  of  which  we  knew  lit- 
tle, and  so  laid  open  the  history  of  its  wrongs  that 
he  enlisted  multitudes  in  its  behalf.  I  speak  not 
now  of  the  views  he  presented,  nor  of  the  demands 
he  made  upon  the  American  people.  If  he  taught 
error  and  asked  wrong,  so  the  more  wonderful  was 
his  career.  No  doubt  his  cause  did  much  for  him  ; 
23* 


270  Influence,  Duties,  and 

but  other  patriots  and  exiles  have  had  equal  oppor- 
tunities with  Kossuth,  yet  no  one  has  so  swayed  the 
public  mind. 

He  was  distinguished  in  intellect,  a  master  of  much 
learning,  a  man  of  nice  moral  feeling  and  strong  re- 
ligious sentiments,  all  of  which  were  combined  and 
blended  in  his  addresses  to  the  people.  But  he 
spoke  a  language  whose  rudiments  he  first  learned 
in  manhood.  In  his  speech  he  neglected  the  chief 
rule  of  Grecian  eloquence.  With  one  theme,  only,  — 
the  wrongs  of  Hungary ;  with  one  object,  only,  — 
her  relief  and  elevation, — he  commanded  the  gen- 
eral attention  of  the  American  mind.  The  mission 
of  Kossuth  in  America  deserves  to  be  remembered 
as  an  intellectual  phenomenon,  whose  like,  we  of 
this  generation  may  not  again  see. 

Mr.  Webster  had  never  great  personal  popularity. 
His  presence  was  majestic,  but  forbidding.  His  man- 
ners were  agreeable,  and  sometimes  fascinating  to 
his  friends,  when  he  was  in  a  genial  mood  :  but  he 
was  often  reserved  or  even  austere  to  strangers,  and 
terrible  to  his  enemies.  His  style  of  thought  was 
mathematical,  his  language  expressive,  but  never 
popular.  He  wrote  as  a  man  would  dictate  an  essay 
which  was  to  appear  as  a  posthumous  work.  His 
eloquence  was  not  that  which  often  passes  for  elo- 
quence upon  the  stump  or  at  the  bar.  He  seldom 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  271 

attempted  to  court  the  people,  and  when  he  did,  it 
was  as  if  he  mockeji  himself,  and  scorned  the  spirit 
which  could  be  moved  by  the  breezes  of  popular 
favor.  He  was  not  free  from  faults,  personal  and 
political ;  yet  he  acquired  a  control  which  has  not 
been  possessed  by  any  man  since  Washington. 
Whenever  he  was  to  speak,  the  public  were  anxious 
to  hear  and  to  read.  Hardly  any  man  has  had  the 
fortune  to  present  his  views  in  addresses,  letters,  and 
speeches,  to  so  large  a  portion  of  his  countrymen  ; 
yet  the  people  whom  he  addressed,  and  who  were 
anxious  for  his  words  and  opinions,  did  not  always, 
or  even  generally,  agree  with  him.  Mr.  Webster's 
power  was  chiefly,  if  not  solely,  intellectual.  He 
had  not  the  personal  qualities  of  Mr.  Clay  or  Gen- 
eral Jackson  ;  he  was  not,  like  Mr.  Jefferson,  the 
chosen  exponent  of  a  political  creed,  and  the  admit- 
ted leader  of  a  great  political  party  ;  nor  had  he 
the  military  character  and  universally  acknowledged 
patriotism  of  General  Washington,  which  made  him 
first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  Mr.  Webster 
stands  alone.  His  domain  is  the  intellect,  and  thus 
far  in  America  he  is  without  a  rival.  To  Mr.  Web- 
ster, and  to  all  men  proportionately,  according  to 
the  measure  of  their  gifts  and  attainments,  we  may 
apply  his  great  words  :  "A  superior  and  command- 
ing human  intellect,  a  truly  great  man,  when  Heaven 


272  Influence,  Duties,  and 

vouchsafes  so  rare  a  gift,  is  not  a  temporary  flame, 
burning  brightly  for  a  while,  and  ihen  giving  place 
to  returning  darkness.  It  is  rather  a  spark  of  fer- 
vent heat,  as  well  as  radiant  light,  with  power  to 
enkindle  the  common  mass  of  human  mind  ;  so  that, 
when  it  glimmers  in  its  own  decay,  and  finally  goes 
out  in  death,  no  night  follows,  but  it  leaves  the 
world  all  light,  all  on  fire,  from  the  potent  contact 
of  its  own  spirit." 

Some  humble  measure  of  this  greatness  may  be 
attained  by  all ;  and,  if  I  have  sought  to  lead  you 
in  the  way  of  improvement  by  considerations  too 
purely  personal  and  selfish,  I  will  implore  you,  in 
conclusion,  as  teachers  and  as  citizens,  to  consider 
yourselves  as  the  servants  of  your  country  and  your 
race.  There  can  be  no  real  greatness  of  mind  with- 
out generosity  of  soul.  If  a  superior  human  intel- 
lect seems  to  be  specially  the  gift  of  God,  how  is  he 
wanting  in  true  religion  who  fails  to  dedicate  it  to 
humanity,  justice,  and  virtue  I 

An  eminent  historian,  seeing  at  one  view,  and  as 
in  the  present  moment,  the  fall  of  great  states, 
ancient  and  modern,  and  anticipating  a  like  fate  for 
his  own  beloved  land,  has  predicted  that  in  two  centu- 
ries there  will  be  three  hundred  millions  of  people  in 
North  America  speaking  the  language  of  England, 
reading  its  authors,  and  glorying  in  their  descent. 


Rewards  of  Teachers.  273 

If  this  be  so,  what  limits  can  we  assign  to  the  work, 
or  how  estimate  the  duty,  of  those  intrusted  with 
the  education  of  the  young  ? 

Who  can  say  what  share  of  responsibility  for  the 
future  of  America  is  upon  the  teachers  of  the  land  ? 


LIBERTY  AND  LEARNING. 

[An  Address  delivered  at  Montague,  July  4th,  1857.] 

I  CONGRATULATE  you  upon  the  auspicious  moments 
of  this,  the  eighty-first  anniversary  of  our  National 
Independence  ;  and  its  return,  now  and  ever,  should 
be  the  occasion  of  gratitude  to  the  Author  of  all 
good,  that  He  hath  vouchsafed  to  our  fathers  and  to 
their  descendants  the  wisdom  to  establish  and  the 
wisdom  to  preserve  the  institutions  of  Liberty  in 
America. 

And  I  congratulate  you  that  you  accept  this  anni- 
versary as  the  occasion  for  considering  the  sub- 
ject of  education.  Ignorant  and  blind  worshippers 
of  Liberty  can  do  but  little  for  its  support ;  but, 
whatever  of  change  or  decay  may  come  to  our  insti- 
tutions, Liberty  itself  can  never  die  in  the  presence 
of  a  people  universally  and  thoroughly  educated. 
It  is  not,  then,  inappropriate  nor  unphilosophical  for 
us  to  connect  Education  and  Liberty  together ;  arid 
I  therefore  propose,  after  presenting  some  thoughts 
upon  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  its  rela- 
tions to  the  American  Union,  to  consider  the  value 

<274) 


Liberty  and  Learning.  275 

of  political  learning,  its  neglect,  and  the  means  by 
which  it  may  be  promoted. 

The  events  and  epochs  of  life  are  logical  in  their 
nature,  and  are  harmonious  or  inharmonious  as  the 
affairs  of  men  are  controlled  by  principle,  policy, 
or  accident.  Ilumboldt,  Maury,  and  Guyot,  Arago, 
Agassiz,  and  Pierce,  by  observation,  philosophy,  and 
mathematics,  demonstrate  the  harmony  of  the  physi- 
cal creation.  In  the  microscopic  animalcule ;  in  the 
gigantic  remains,  whether  vegetable  or  animal,  of 
other  ages  and  conditions  of  life  ;  in  the  coral  reef 
and  the  mountain  range  ;  in  the  hill-side  rivulet  that 
makes  "  the  meadows  green  ;  "  in  the  ocean  current 
that  bathes  and  vivifies  a  continent ;  in  the  setting 
of  the  leaf  upon  its  stem,  and  the  moving  of  Uranus 
in  its  orbit,  they  trace  a  law  whose  harmony  is  its 
glory,  and  whose  mystery  is  the  evidence  of  its 
divinity. 

National  changes,  the  movements  and  progress  of 
the  human  race,  as  a  whole  and  in  its  parts,  are  obe- 
dient, likewise,  to  law  ;  and  are,  therefore,  logical  in 
their  character,  though  generally  lacking  in  precision 
of  connection  and  order  of  succession.  Or  it  may 
be,  rather,  that  we  lack  power  to  trace  the  connection 
between  events  that  depend  in  part,  at  least,  upon 
the  prejudices,  passions,  vices,  and  weaknesses,  of 
men.  The  development  of  the  logic  of  human  affairs 


276  Liberty  and  Learning. 

waits  for  a  philosopher  who  shall  study  and  compre- 
hend the  living  millions  of  our  race,  as  the  philoso- 
phers now  study  and  comprehend  the  subjects  of 
physical  science.  We  have  no  guaranty  that  this 
can  ever  be  done.  As  mind  is  above  matter,  the 
mental  philosopher  enters  upon  the  most  varied  and 
difficult  field  of  labor. 

Keeping  this  fact  in  mind,  it  appears  to  be  true 
that  every  person  of  observation,  reading,  and  re- 
flection, is  something  of  a  mental  philosopher,  though 
much  the  larger  number  have  no  knowledge  of  physi- 
cal science.  And  especially  must  the  student  of 
history  have  a  system  of  mental  philosophy  ;  but 
often,  no  doubt,  his  system  is  too  crude  for  general 
notice.  Every  historian  connects  the  events  of  his 
narrative  by  some  thread  of  philosophy  or  specula- 
tion ;  every  reader  observes  some  connection,  though 
he  may  never  develop  it  to  himself,  between  the 
events  and  changes  of  natioital  and  ethnological 
lif<-  ;  and  even  the  observer  whose  vision  is  limited 
by  his  own  horizon  in  time  and  space  marks  a  de- 
pendence, and  speaks  of  cause  and  effect.  All  this 
follows  from  the  existence  and  nature  of  man.  Man 
is  not  inert,  nor  even  passive,  merely ;  and  his  activ- 
ity will  continually  organize  itself  into  facts  and 
forms,  ever  changing  in  character,  it  may  be,  yet 


Liberty  and  Learning.  277 

subject  to  a  law  as  wise  and  fixed  as  that  of  plan- 
etary motion. 

The  Independence  of  the  British  Colonies  in  Amer- 
ica, declared  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  is  not  an 
isolated  fact ;  nor  is  the  Declaration  itself  a  hasty 
and  overwrought  production  of  a  young  and  enthusi- 
astic adventurer  in  the  cause  of  liberty. 

The  passions  and  the  reason  of  men  connected  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  with  the  massacre  in 
King-street,  of  March  5th,  1*770  ;  with  the  passage 
and  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act ;  with  the  attempt  to 
enforce  the  Writs  of  Assistance ;  with  the  act  to 
close  the  port  of  Boston  ;  with  the  peace  of  1763  ; 
with  the  Act  of  Settlement  of  1688  ;  with  the  execu- 
tion of  Charles  I.,  and  the  Protectorate  of  Cromwell ; 
with  the  death  of  Hampden  ;  with  the  confederation 
of  1643  ;  with  the  royal  charters  granted  to  the  re- 
spective colonies  ;  with  the  compact  made  on  board 
the  Mayflower ;  and,  finally,  and  distinctly,  and 
chiefly,  —  as  the  basis  of  the  greatest  legal  argument 
of  modern  times,  made  by  the  Massachusetts  House 
of  Representatives,  from  1765  to  1775,  —  with  the 
events  at  Runnymede,  and  the  grant  of  the  Great 
Charter  to  the  nobles  and  people  of  England  in  1215, 
which  is  itself  based  upon  the  concessions  of  Edward 
the  Confessor,  and  the  affirmation  of  the  Saxon  laws 
in  the  eleventh  century.  Our  Independence  is,  then, 
24 


278  Liberty  and  Learning. 

one  logical  fact  or  event  in  a  long  succession,  to  the 
enumeration  of  which  we  may  yet  add  the  confeder- 
ation of  1778,  the  constitution  of  1787,  the  French 
-  Revolution  of  1789,  the  rapid  increase  of  American 
territory  and  States,  the  revolutionary  spirit  of  con- 
tinental Europe,  the  reforms  in  the  British  govern- 
ment at  home,  the  wise  modifications  of  its  colo- 
nial policy,  and  for  us  a  long  career  of  prosperity 
based  upon  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  equality  of 
all  men  before  the  law. 

Nor  can  any  reader  of  the  Declaration  itself  as- 
sume that  it  contains  one  statement,  proposition, 
idea,  or  word,  not  carefully  considered,  and  care- 
fully expressed.  It  was  not  the  production  of  hasty, 
thoughtless,  or  reckless  men.  The  country  had  been 
gradually  prepared  for  the  great  event.  States, 
counties,  and  towns,  had  made  the  most  distinct 
expressions  of  opinion  upon  the  relations  of  the  col- 
onies to  the  mother  country.  On  the  7th  of  June, 
1776,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia,  moved,  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  Colonies,  a  resolution  declar- 
ing, That  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right 
ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  states  ;  that  they 
arc  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown, 
and  that  all  political  connection  between  them  and 
the  state  of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally 
dissolved.  The  subject  was  considered  on  the  tenth  ; 


Liberty  and  Learning.  279 

and,  on  the  eleventh  instant,  the  committee,  consist- 
ing of  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Adams,  Dr.  Franklin, 
Roger  Sherman,  and  Robert  R.  Livingston,  was  ap- 
pointed. On  the  twenty-fifth  of  June,  a  Declaration 
of  the  Deputies  of  Pennsylvania,  in  favor  of  Inde- 
pendence, was  read.  On  the  twenty-eighth,  the  cre- 
dentials of  the  delegates  from  New  Jersey,  in  which 
they  were  instructed  to  favor  Independence,  were 
presented  ;  and  on  the  first  of  July  similar  instruc- 
tions to  the  Maryland  delegates  were  laid  before 
Congress.  At  this  time  Congress  proceeded  to  con- 
sider the  Declaration  and  resolution  reported  by  the 
committee.  The  Declaration  was  carefully  consid- 
ered, and  materially  amended  in  committee  of  the 
whole,  on  the  first,  second,  third,  and  fourth,  when 
it  was  finally  adopted.  It  was  then  signed  by  the 
president  and  secretary,  and  copies  were  transmit- 
ted to  the  several  colonies.  The  order  for  its  en- 
grossment, and  for  the  signature  by  every  member, 
was  not  passed  until  the  nineteenth  of  July,  and  it 
was  not  really  signed  until  the  second  of  August 
following.  It  is  not  likely,  considering  the  circum- 
stances, and  the  known  character  of  the  members  of 
Congress,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  John 
Hancock,  Samuel  Adams,  Benjamin  Rush,  Robert 
Morris,  Benjamin  Harrison,  Elbridge  Gerry,  John 
Witherspoon,  a  descendant  of  John  Knox,  the  Scot- 


280  Liberty  and  Learning. 

tish  Reformer,  Charles  Carroll,  and  Samuel  Hunting- 
ton,  —  all  distinguished  for  coolness,  probity,  and 
patriotism, — that  the  immortal  document  can  contain 
one  thought  or  word  unworthy  its  sacred  associa- 
tions, and  the  character  of  the  American  people  ! 

And  it  is  among  the  alarming  symptoms  of  pub- 
lic sentiment  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
is  by  some  publicly  condemned,  and  by  others  quietly 
accepted  as  entitled  to  just  the  consideration,  and  no 
more,  that  is  given  to  an  excited  advocate's  speech 
to  a  jury,  or  a  demagogue's  electioneering  harangue, 
or  the  daily  contribution  of  the  partisan  editor  to 
the  stock  of  political  capital  that  aids  the  election 
of  his  favorite  candidates.  And  upon  this  evidence 
is  the  nation  and  the  world  to  be  taught  that  but 
little  was  meant  by  the  assertions,  "  that  all  men 
are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights ;  that  among 
these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness ;  that,  to  secure  these  rights,  governments  are 
instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed "  ?  Would  it 
not  be  wiser  to  test  the  government  we  have,  by  a 
statesmanlike  application  of  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  in  the  management  of 
public  affairs  ? 

The  Union  is  connected  with  the  Declaration  of 


Liberty  and  Learning.  281 

Independence.  The  Union  is  an  institution  :  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  is  an  assertion  of  rights, 
and  an  exposition  of  principles.  When  principles 
are  disregarded,  institutions  do  not,  for  any  con- 
siderable time,  retain  their  original  value.  And  it 
would  be  the  folly  of  other  nations,  without  excuse 
in  us,  were  we  to  worship  blindly  any  institution, 
whatever  its  origin  or  its  history.  I  do  not,  myself, 
doubt  the  value  of  the  American  Union.  It  was 
the  necessity  of  the  time  when  it  was  formed  ; 
it  is  the  necessity  of  the  present  moment ;  it  was, 
indeed,  the  claim  of  our  whole  colonial  life,  and  its 
recognition  could  be  postponed  no  longer  when  the 
colonies  crossed  the  threshold  of  national  existence. 

The  colonies  had  carried  on  a  correspondence 
among  themselves  upon  important  matters  ;  the  New 
England  settlements  formed  a  confederation  in  1643, 
that  was  the  prototype  of  the  present  Union  ;  and 
the  convention  at  Albany,  in  1^54,  considered  in 
connection  with  various  resolutions  and  declara- 
tions, indicated  a  growing  desire  "to  form  a  more 
perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tran- 
quillity, provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote 
the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty "  to  the  successive  generations  that  should 
occupy  the  American  continent. 

For  these  exalted  purposes  the  Constitution  was 
24* 


282  Liberty  and  Learning. 

framed,  and  the  Union  established  ;  and  the  Consti- 
tution and  the  Union  will  remain  as  long  as  these 
exalted  purposes,  with  any  considerable  share  of 
fidelity,  are  secured.  The  Union  will  not  be  de- 
stroyed by  declamation,  nor  can  declamation  pre- 
serve it.  Words  have  power  only  when  they  awaken 
a  response  in  the  minds  of  those  who  listen.  The 
Union  will  be  judged,  finally,  by  its  merits  ;  and  they 
are  not  powerful  enemies  for  evil  who  attack  it 
through  the  press  and  from  the  rostrum  ;  but  rather 
they  who,  clothed  with  authority,  brief  or  permanent, 
interpret  the  constitution  so  as  to  defeat  the  end  for 
which  it  was  framed.  Nor  are  they  the  best  friends 
of  the  Union  who  lavishly  bestow  upon  it  nicely- 
wrought  encomiums,  as  though  the  gilding  of  rhet- 
oric and  the  ornament  of  praise  could  shield  a  human 
institution  from  the  judgment  of  a  free  people  ;  but 
rather  they  who,  under  Ileaven,  and  in  the  presence 
of  men,  seek  to  so  interpret  the  constitution  as,  in 
the  language  and  in  the  order  of  its  preamble,  "  to 
form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure 
domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  de- 
fence, promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the 
blessings  of  liberty  "  to  themselves  and  their  pos- 
terity. Words  are  powerless,  and  enemies  —  envi- 
ous, jealous,  or  deluded  —  are  powerless,  when  they 
war  upon  a  system  of  government  that  secures  such 


Liberty  and  Learning.  283 

exalted  results.  And,  if  in  these  later  days  of  our 
national  existence  patriotism  has  been  weakened, 
respect  and  reverence  for  the  constitution  and  the 
Union  have  been  diminished,  it  is  because  the  .actual 
government  under  the  constitution  has,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  many,  failed  to  realize  the  government  of  the 
constitution. 

But  let  no  one  despair  of  the  Republic.  Men  are 
now  building  better  than  they  know  ;  possibly,  bet- 
ter than  they  wish.  A  great  government,  powerful 
in  its  justice,  and  therefore  to  be  respected  and 
maintained,  must  also  be  powerful  in  its  errors,  prej- 
udices, and  wrongs,  and  therefore  to  be  changed 
and  reformed  in  these  respects.  The  declaration 
"that  all  men  are  created  equal'7  is  vital,  and  will 
live  in  the  presence  of  all  governments,  strong  as 
well  as  weak,  hostile  as  well  as  friendly.  It  has  no 
respect  for  worldly  authority,  so  evidently  is  it  a 
direct  emanation  of  the  Divine  Mind,  and  so  does  it 
harmonize  with  the  highest  manifestations  of  the 
nature  of  man.  But  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence does  not,  in  this  particular,  assert  that  all  men 
are  created  equal  in  height  or  weight,  equal  in  phys- 
ical strength,  intellectual  power,  or  moral  worth. 
It  is  not  dealing  with  these  qualities  at  all,  but  with 
the  natural  political  rights  and  relations  of  men.  In 
its  view,  all  are  born  free  from  any  political  subordi- 


284  Liberty  and  Learning. 

nation  to  others  on  account  of  the  accidents  or  inci- 
dents of  family  or  historic  name.  And  hence  it  fol- 
lows that  no  man,  by  birth  or  nature,  has  any  right 
in  political  affairs  to  control  his  fellow-man  ;  and 
hence  it  follows  further,  as  there  is  neither  subjec- 
tion anywhere  nor  authority  anywhere,  that  all  men 
are  created  equal,  that  governments  derive  their 
"just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed." 
And  hence  it  must,  ere  long,  be  demonstrated  by 
this  country,  under  the  light  of  Christianity,  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  world,  that  man  cannot  have 
property  in  his  fellow-man. 

And,  again,  let  no  one  despair  of  the  Republic  or 
of  the  Union  ;  nor  let  any,  with  rash  confidence,  be- 
lieve that  they  are  indestructible.  They  are  human 
institutions  built  up  through  great  sacrifices,  and  by 
the  exercise  of  a  high  order  of  worldly  wisdom. 
But  the  government  is  not  an  end  —  it  is  a  means. 
The  end  is  Liberty  regulated  by  law  ;  and  the  means 
will  exist  as  long  as  the  end  thereof  is  attained^ 
But,  should  the  time  ever  come  when  the  institutions 
of  the  country  fail  to  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  the  living  generation,  and  hold  out  no  promise  of 
better  things  in  the  future,  I  know  not  that  these 
itutions  could  longer  exist,  or  that  they  ought 
longer  to  exist.  To  be  sure,  the  horizon  is  not 
always  distinctly  seen.  The  sky  is  not  always 


Liberty  and  Learning.  285 

clear  ;  there  are  dark  spots  upon  the  disk  of  Liberty, 
as  upon  the  sun  in  the  heavens  ;  but,  like  the  sun, 
its  presence  is  for  all.  And,  whether  there  be  night, 
or  clouds,  or  distance,  its  blessings  can  never  b(3 
wholly  withdrawn  from  the  human  race. 

It  is  not  to  be  concealed,  however,  that  the  affec- 
tions of  the  people  have  been  alienated  from  the 
American  Union  during  the  last  seven  years,  as  they 
were  from  the  union  with  Great  Britain  during  the 
years  of  our  colonial  life  immediately  previous  to  the 
Massacre  in  King-street,  in  IT 70.  This  solemn  per- 
sonal and  public  experience  is  fraught  with  a  great 
lesson.  It  should  teach  those  who  are  intrusted 
with  the  administration  of  public  affairs  to  translate 
the  language  of  the  constitution  into  the  stern  reali- 
ties of  public  policy,  in  the  light  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  of  Liberty  ;  and  it  should  warn 
those  who  constitute  the  government,  and  who  judge 
it,  not  to  allow  their  opposition  to  men  or  to  meas- 
ures to  degenerate  into  indifference  or  hostility  to 
the  institutions  of  the  country. 

A  little  distrust  of  ourselves,  who  see  not  beyond 
our  own  horizon,  might  sometimes  lend  charity  to 
our  judgment,  and  discretion  to  our  opposition;  for, 
in  the  turmoil  of  politics,  and  the  contests  of  states- 
manship, even,  it  is  not  always 


286  Liberty  and  Learning. 

" the  sea  that  sinks  ajid  shelves, 

But  ourselves, 
That  rock  and  rise 

With  endless  and  uneasy  motion, 
Now  touching  the  very  skies, 

Now  sinking  into  the  depths  of  ocean." 

And,  as  there  must  be  in  every  society  of  men 
something  of  evil  that  can  be  traced  to  the  govern- 
ment, and  something  of  good  neglected  that  a  wise 
and  efficient  government  might  have  accomplished, 
it  is  easy  to  build  up  an  argument  against  an  exist- 
ing government,  however  good  when  compared  with 
others.  This  is  a  narrow,  superficial,  unsatisfactory, 
dangerous  view  to  take  of  public  affairs. 

We  should  seek  to  comprehend  the  relations  of 
the  government,  the  principles  on  which  it  is  founded ; 
and,  while  we  justly  complain  of  its  defects,  and  seek 
to  remedy  them,  we  ought  also  to  compare  it  with 
other  systems  that  exist,  or  that  might  be  estab- 
lished. This  proposition  involves  an  intelligent 
realization  by  the  people  of  the  character  of  their 
institutions  ;  and  I  am  thus  led  to  express  the  appre- 
hension that  the  popular  political  education  of  our 
day  is  inferior  to  that  of  the  revolutionary  era,  and 
of  the  age  that  immediately  succeeded  it. 

There  is,  no  doubt,  a  disposition  and  a  tendency 
to  extol  the  recent  past.  The  recollections  of  child- 
hood are  quite  at  variance  with  the  real  truth,  and 


Liberty  and  Learning.  287 

tradition  is  often  the  dream  of  old  age  concerning 
the  events  of  early  life.  As  rivers,  hills,  mountains, 
roads,  and  towns,  are  all  magnified  by  the  visions 
of  childhood,  it  is  not  strange  that  men  should  be 
also.  Hence  comes,  in  part,  the  popular  belief  in 
the  superior  physical  strength  and  greater  longevity 
of  the  people  who  lived  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  ago. 
Each  generation  is  familiar  with  its  predecessor  ; 
but  of  the  one  next  remote  it  knows  only  the 
marked  characters.  Those  who  possessed  great 
physical  excellences  remain  ;  but  they  are  not  so 
much  the  representatives  of  their  generation  as  its 
exceptions.  The  weak,  the  diseased,  have  fallen  by 
the  way  ;  and,  as  there  is  an  intimate  connection 
between  physical  and  intellectual  power,  the  rem- 
nant of  any  generation,  whatever  its  common  char- 
acter, will  retain  a  disproportionate  number  of  strong- 
minded  men.  Hence  it  is  not  safe  to  judge  a  gen- 
eration as  a  whole  by  those  who  remain  at  the  age 
of  sixty  or  seventy  years  ;  especially  if  we  reflect 
that  public  opinion  and  tradition  are  most  likely  to 
preserve  the  names  and  qualities  of  those  who  were 
distinguished  for  physical  or  mental  power.  Yet, 
after  making  due  allowance  for  these  exaggerations, 
I  cannot  escape  the  conclusion  that  we  have,  as  a 
people,  deteriorated  in  average  sound  political  learn- 
ing ;  and  I  proceed  to  mention  some  of  the  causes 


288  Liberty  and  Learning. 

and  evidences  of  our  degeneracy,  and  of  the  superi- 
ority of  our  ancestors. 

I.  The  political  condition  of  the  country  has  been 
essentially  changed.  —  General  personal  and  family 
comfort,  according  to  the  ideas  now  entertained,  was 
not  a  feature  of  American  society  for  one  hundred 
and  seventy  years  from  the  settlement  at  Plymouth. 
Life  was  a  continual  contest  —  a  contest  with  the 
forest,  with  the  climate,  with  the  Indians,  and  espe- 
cially was  it  a  continual  contest  with  the  mother 
country.  The  colonists  sought  to  maintain  their 
own  rights  without  infringement,  while  they  ac- 
corded to  the  sovereign  his  constitutional  privileges. 
Conflicts  were  frequent,  and  apprehensions  of  con- 
flict yet  more  frequent.  Hence  those  who  had  the 
conduct  of  public  affairs  were  compelled  to  give 
some  attention  to  English  history,  and  to  the  con- 
stitutional law  of  Great  Britain.  Moreover,  it  was 
always  important  to  secure  and  keep  a  strong  public 
sentiment  on  the  side  of  liberty  ;  and  there  were 
usually  in  every  town  men  who  thoroughly  investi- 
gated questions  of  public  policy.  There  was  one 
topic,  more  absorbing  than  any  other,  that  involved 
the  study  of  the  legal  history  and  usage  of  Great 
Britain,  and  a  careful  consideration  of  the  general 
principles  of  liberty;  namely,  the  constitutional 
light*  of  ft  British  subject.  Here  was  a  broad  field 


Liberty  and  Learning.  289 

for  inquiry,  investigation,  and  study  ;  and  it  was 
faithfully  cultivated  and  gleaned.  There  has  never 
been  a  political  topic  for  public  discussion  in  Amer- 
ica more  important  in  itself,  or  better  calculated  to 
educate  an  American  in  a  knowledge  of  his  political 
rights,  than  the  examination  of  the  political  relations 
of  the  subject  to  the  crown  and  parliament  of  Great 
Britain  previous  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
It  was  not  an  abstraction.  It  had  a  practical  value 
to  every  man  in  the  colonies,  and  it  was  the  promi- 
nent feature  of  the  masterly  exposition  made  by  the 
Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives,  to  which  I 
have  already  referred.  And  we  can  better  estimate 
the  political  education  which  the  times  furnished, 
when  we  consider  that  the  revolutionary  war  was 
made  logical  and  necessary  through  a  knowledge  of 
positions,  facts,  and  arguments,  scattered  over  the 
history  of  the  colonies.  But,  when  our  Independ- 
ence had  been  established  and  recognized,  consti- 
tutions had  been  framed,  and  the  governments  of  the 
states  and  nation  set  in  motion,  the  beauty  and  har- 
mony of  our  political  system  seemed  to  render  con- 
tinued attention  to  political  principles  and  the  rights 
of  individual  men  unnecessary.  Hence,  we  may  an- 
ticipate the  judgment  of  impartial  history  in  the 
admission  that  public  attention  was  gradually  given 
to  contests  for  office  which  did  not  always  involve 
25 


290  Liberty  and  Learning. 

the  maintenance  of  a  fundamental  principle  of  gov- 
ernment, or  the  recognition  of  an  essential  human 
right.  It  does  not,  however,  follow,  from  this  admis- 
sion, that  we  are  indifferent  to  our  political  lot,  — 
occasional  contests  upon  principle  refute  such  a  con- 
jecture, —  but  that  men  are  not  anxious  concerning 
those  things  which  appear  to  be  secure.  And  the  dif- 
ferences of  political  parties  of  the  last  fifty  years  have 
not  been  so  much  concerning  the  nature  of  human 
rights,  as  in  regard  to  the  institutions  by  which 
those  rights  can  be  best  protected.  Therefore  our 
political  questions  have  been  questions  of  expedi- 
ency rather  than  of  principle.  And,  if  there  is  any 
foundation  for  the  popular  impression  that  public 
offices  are  conferred  on  men  less  eminently  qualified 
to  give  dignity  to  public  employments,  the  reason  of 
this  degeneracy  —  less  noteworthy  than  it  is  usually 
represented  —  is  to  be  found  in  this  connection. 

Governments  and  political  organizations  accept 
the  common  law  of  society.  When  an  individual 
or  a  corporation  is  prosperous,  places  of  trust  and 
emolument  arc  often  gained  and  occupied  by  unwor- 
thy men  ;  but,  when  profits  are  diminished,  or  when 
they  disappear  entirely ;  when  dividends  are  passed, 
when  loss  and  bankruptcy  are  imminent,  then,  if  hope 
and  courage  still  remain,  places  of  importance  are 
filled  by  the  appointment  of  abler  and  worthier  men. 


Liberty  and  Learning.  291 

The  charge  made  against  official  character,  to  what- 
ever extent  true,  is  better  evidence  of  confidence 
and  prosperity  than  it  is  of  the  degeneracy  of  the 
people  ;  and  a  public  exigency,  serious  and  long- 
continued,  would  call  to  posts  of  responsibility  the 
highest  talent  and  integrity  which  the  country  could 
produce.  But  it  is,  nevertheless,  to  be  admitted  as 
a  necessary  consequence  of  the  facts  already  stated, 
and  the  views  presented,  that  the  average  amount 
of  sound  political  learning  among  those  engaged  in 
public  employments  is  less  than  it  was  during  the 
revolutionary  era.  It  is,  however,  also  to  be  ob- 
served, that,  when  such  learning  seems  to  be  spe- 
cially required,  the  people  demand  it  and  secure  it. 
Hence  the  work  of  framing  constitutions,  even  in 
the  new  states,  has,  in  its  execution,  commanded 
the  approval  of  political  writers  in  this  country  and 
in  Europe.  And  it  must,  also,  be  admitted  that 
peace  and  prosperity  render  sound  political  learning 
and  great  experience  less  necessary,  and  at  the  same 
time  multiply  the  number  of  men  who  are  considered 
eligible  to  office.  Candidates  are  put  in  nomination 
and  elected  because  they  have  been  good  neighbors, 
honorable  citizens,  competent  teachers  of  youth,  or 
faithful  spiritual  guides  ;  or,  possibly,  because  they 
have  been  successful  in  business,  are  of  the  military 
or  of  the  fire  department,  or  because  they  are  leaders 


292  Liberty  and  Learning. 

and  benefactors  of  special  classes  of  society.  In 
ordinary  times  these  facts  are  all  worthy  of  consid- 
eration and  real  deference  ;  but  when,  as  in  the  Rev- 
olution, every  place  of  public  service  is  a  post  of 
responsibility,  or  sacrifice,  or  danger,  candidates  and 
electors  will  not  meet  upon  these  grounds,  but,  dis- 
regarding such  circumstances,  the  canvass  will  have 
special  reference  to  the  work  to  be  done.  For  civil 
employments,  political  learning  and  experience  are 
required  ;  and  for  military  posts,  skill,  sagacity,  and 
courage.  It  may  be  said  that  our  whole  colonial  life 
was  a  preparatory  school  for  the  revolutionary  con- 
test ;  and,  therefore,  the  major  part  of  the  enterprise, 
ambition,  and  patriotism,  of  the  country,  was  given 
to  the  training,  studies,' and  pursuits,  calculated  to 
fit  men  for  so  stern  a  struggle.  But  now  that  other 
avenues  are  inviting  in  themselves,  and  promise 
political  preferment,  we  are  liable  to  the  criticism 
that  our  young  men,  well  educated  in  the  schools 
and  in  a  knowledge  of  the  world,  are  iiot  well 
grounded  in  political  history  and  constitutional  law, 
without  which  there  can  bo  no  thorough  and  com- 
prehensive statesmanship.  And,  as  I  pass  from  this 
branch  of  my  subject,  I  may  properly  say  that  I  do 
not  seek  to  limit  the  number  of  candidates  for  public 
office ;  for  every  office  is  a  school,  and  the  public 
itself  is  a  great  and  wise  teacher.  Nor  do  I  ask  any 


Liberty  and  Learning.  293 

to  abandon  the  employments  and  duties,  or  to  neg- 
lect the  claims  of  business  and  of  social  life  ;  but  I 
seek  to  impress  upon  our  youth  a  sense  of  the  im- 
portance of  adding  something  thereto.  The  knowl- 
edge of  which  I  have  spoken  is  valuable  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  public  business,  and  absolutely 
essential  in  the  exigences  of  political  and  national 
life.  And  it  is  with  an  eye  single  to  the  happiness 
of  individuals,  and  the  welfare  of  the  public,  that  I 
invite  my  fellow-citizens,  and  especially  the  young 
men  of  the  state,  to  take  something  from  the  hours 
of  labor,  where  labor  is  excessive  ;  or  something  from 
amusement,  where  amusement  has  ceased  to  be  re- 
creation ;  or  something  from  light  reading,  which 
often  is  neither  true,  nor  reasonable,  nor  useful ;  or 
something  from  indolence  and  dissipation  ;  and,  in 
the  minutes  and  hours  thus  gained,  treasure  up  val- 
uable knowledge  for  the  circumstances  and  exigences 
of  citizenship  and  public  office. 

II.  The  claims  of  business  and  society  are  unfavora- 
ble to  political  learning.  —  I  assume  it  to  be  true  of 
Massachusetts  that  the  proportion  of  freehold  farm- 
ers to  the  whole  population  is  gradually  diminishing, 
and  that  the  amount  of  labor  performed  by  each  is 
gradually  increasing.  From  the  settlement  of  the 
country  to  the  commencement  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, there  was  a  great  deal  of  privation,  hardship, 
25* 


294  Liberty  and  Learning. 

and  positive  suffering  ;  but  the  claim  for  continuous 
labor  was  not  exacting. 

The  necessary  articles  of  food  and  clothing  were 
chiefly  supplied  from  the  land,  and  the  majority  did 
not  contemplate  any  great  accumulation  of  worldly 
goods,  but  sought  rather  to  place  their  political  and 
religious  privileges  upon  a  sure  foundation.  Agri- 
culture was  in  a  rude  state,  and  consequently  did 
not  furnish  steady  employment  to  those  engaged  in 
it.  It  is  only  when  there  are  valuable  markets,  scien- 
tific, or  at  least  careful  cultivation,  and  large  profits, 
that  the  farmer  can  use  his  evenings  and  long  win- 
ters in  his  profession.  These  circumstances  did  not 
exist  until  the  present  century  ;  and  we  have  thus  in 
this  discussion  found  both  the  motive  and  the  oppor- 
tunity for  political  learning  among  our  ancestors. 

It  is  also  possible  that  the  increased  activity  of 
business  and  business  men  is  unfavorable  to  those 
studies  and  thoughts  that  arc  essential  to  political 
learning.  Commerce  and  trade  are  stimulated  by 
never-ceasing  competition  ;  and  manufacturers  are 
not  free  from  the  influence  of  markets,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  variety,  taste,  and  skill,  in  the  management 
of  their  business.  If  the  larger  share  of  the  physi- 
cal and  mental  vigor  of  a  man  is  given  to  business, 
his  hours  of  leisure  must  be  hours  of  relaxation  ;  and 
to  most  minds  the  study  of  history  and  of  kindred 


Liberty  and  Learning.  295 

topics  is  by  no  means  equivalent  to  recreation. 
Moreover,  society  presents  numerous  claims  which 
are  not  easily  disregarded.  Fashionable  life  puts 
questions  that  but  few  people  have  the  courage  to 
answer  in  the  negative.  Have  you  read  the  last 
novel  ?  the  new  play  ?  the  reviews  of  the  quarter  ? 
the  magazines  of  the  month  ?  or  the  greatest  satire 
of  the  age  ?  These  questions  have  puzzled  many 
young  men  into  customary  neglect  of  useful  reading, 
that  they  may  not  admit  their  ignorance  in  the  pres- 
ence of  those  whom  they  respect  or  admire. 

But,  everything  valuable  is  expensive,  and  learn- 
ing can  be  secured  only  by  severe  self-sacrifice. 
With  our  ancestors,  after  religious  culture,  historical 
and  political  reading  was  next  immediately  before 
them  ;  but  the  youth  of  this  generation  who  seek 
such  learning  are  compelled  to  make  their  way  with- 
out deference  to  the  daily  customs  of  society.  There 
is  no  fashionable  or  tolerated  society  that  invites 
young  men  to  read  the  history  of  England  prior  to 
the  time  when  Macaulay  begins.  Nor  does  public 
sentiment  recommend  De  Lolme  on  the  British  con- 
stitution, the  Federalist,  the  writings  of  Jefferson, 
Madison,  Marshall,  Story,  and  Webster,  upon  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  practice 
of  the  government  under  it.  Not  but  that  these 
topics  are  considered  in  the  higher  institutions  of 


V 


296  Liberty  and  Learning. 

learning  ;  but  I  address  myself  to  those  who  have 
enjoyed  the  advantages  of  our  common  schools  on\y, 
where  thorough  instruction  in  national  and  general 
political  history  cannot  be  given.  This  kind  of 
learning  must  be  self-acquired,  and  acquired  by  some 
temporary  sacrifice  ;  and  the  sooner,  in  the  case 
of  every  young  man,  this  sacrifice  is  contemplated 
and  offered,  the  more  acceptable  and  useful  it  will 
be.  And  the  acquisition  of  this  kind  of  learning 
does  not,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  admit  of  delay.  It 
should  be  the  work  of  youth  and  early  manhood. 
The  duties  of  life  are  so  constant  and  pressing  that 
we  find  it  difficult  to  abstract  ourselves  and  our 
thoughts  from  the  world  ;  but,  from  the  age  of  six- 
teen to  the  age  of  twenty-five,  the  attention  may  be 
concentrated  upon  special  subjects,  and  their  ele- 
ments mastered. 

By  the  Athenian  law,  minority  terminated  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  years  ;  and  Demosthenes,  at  that 
period  of  his  life,  commenced  a  course  of  self-educa- 
tion by  which  he  became  the  first  orator  of  Athens, 
and  the  admiration  of  the  after-world.  The  father 
of  Demosthenes  died  worth  fourteen  talents  ;  and 
the  son,  though  defrauded  by  his  guardians,  was,  as 
his  father  had  been,  enrolled  in  the  wealthiest  class 
of  citizens  ;  yet  he  did  not  hesitate  to  subject  him- 


Liberty  and  Learning.  297 

self  to  the  severest  mental  and  physical  discipline,  in 
preparation  for  the  great  life  he  was  to  lead. 

"  Demosthenes  received,  during  his  youth,  the 
ordinary  grammatical  and  rhetorical  education  of  a 

wealthy  Athenian It  appears  also  that  he 

was,  from  childhood,  of  sickly  constitution  and  feeble 
muscular  frame  ;  so  that,  partly  from  his  own  disin- 
clination, partly  from  the  solicitude  of  his  mother, 
he  took  little  part,  as  boy  or  youth,  in  the  exercises 

of  the  palaestra Such  comparative  bodily 

disability  probably  contributed  to  incite  his  thirst 
for  mental  and  rhetorical  acquisitions,  as  the  only 
road  to  celebrity  open.  But  it  at  the  same  time  dis- 
qualified him  from  appropriating  to  himself  the  full 
range  of  a  comprehensive  Grecian  education,  as  con- 
ceived by  Plato,  Isokrates,  and  Aristotle  ;  an  educa- 
tion applying  alike  to  thought,  word,  and  action  — 
combining  bodily  strength,  endurance,  and  fearless- 
ness, with  an  enlarged  mental  capacity,  and  a  power 
of  making  it  felt  by  speech. 

"  The  disproportion  between  the  physical  energy 
and  the  mental  force  of  Demosthenes,  beginning  in 
childhood,  is  recorded  and  lamented  in  the  inscrip- 
tion placed  on  his  statue  after  his  death De- 
mosthenes put  himself  under  the  teaching  of  Isseus  ; 
....  and  also  profited  largely  by  the  discourse  of 
Plato,  of  Isokrates,  and  others.  As  an  ardent  as- 


298  Liberty  and  Learning. 

pirant,  he  would  seek  instruction  from  most  of  the 
best  sources,  theoretical  as  well  as  practical  —  writ- 
ers as  well  as  lecturers.  But,  besides  living  teach- 
ers, there  was  one  of  the  last  generation  who  con- 
tributed largely  to  his  improvement.  He  studied 
Thucydides  with  indefatigable  labor  and  attention  ; 
according  to  one  account,  he  copied  the  whole  his- 
tory eight  times  over  with  his  own  hand  ;  according 
to  another,  he  learnt  it  all  by  heart,  so  as  to  be  able 
to  rewrite  it  from  memory,  when  the  manuscript 
was  accidentally  destroyed.  Without  minutely 
criticizing  these  details,  we  ascertain,  at  least, 
that  Thucydides  was  the  peculiar  object  of  his 
study  and  imitation.  How  much  the  composition  of 
Demosthenes  was  fashioned  by  the  reading  of  Thu- 
cydides, reproducing  the  daring,  majestic,  and  im- 
pressive phraseology,  yet  without  the  overstrained 
brevity  and  involutions  of  that  great  historian, — 
and  contriving  to  blend  with  it  a  perspicuity  and 
grace  not  inferior  to  Lysias, — may  be  seen  illustrated 
in  the  elaborate  criticism  of  the  rhetor  Dionysius. 

"  While  thus  striking  out  for  himself  a  bold  and 
original  style,  Demosthenes  had  still  greater  difficul- 
ties to  overcome  in  regard  to  the  external  requisites 
of  an  orator.  He  was  not  endowed  by  nature,  like 
JSschincs,  with  a  magnificent  voice  ;  nor,  like  De- 
mades,  with  a  ready  flow  of  vehement  improvisation. 


Liberty  and  Learning.  299 

His  thoughts  required  to  be  put  together  by  careful 
preparation  ;  his  voice  was  bad,  and  even  lisping  ; 
his  breath  short ;  his  gesticulation  ungraceful ;  more- 
over, he  was  overawed  and  embarrassed  by  the  man- 
ifestations of  the  multitude The  energy 

and  success  with  which  Demosthenes  overcame  his 
defects,  in  such  manner  as  to  satisfy  a  critical  as- 
sembly like  the  Athenians,  is  one  of  the  most  mem- 
orable circumstances  in  the  general  history  of  self- 
education.  Repeated  humiliation  and  repulse  only 
spurred  him  on  to  fresh  solitary  efforts  for  improve- 
ment. He  corrected  his  defective  elocution  by 
speaking  with  pebbles  in  his  mouth  ;  he  prepared 
himself  to  overcome  the  noise  of  the  assembly  by 
declaiming  in  stormy  weather  on  the  sea-shore  of 
Phalerum  ;  he  opened  his  lungs  by  running,  and 
extended  his  powers  of  holding  breath  by  pronounc- 
ing sentences  in  marching  up-hill  ;  he  sometimes 
passed  two  or  three  months  without  interruption  in 
a  subterranean  chamber,  practising  night  and  day 
either  in  composition  or  declamation,  and  shaving 
one-half  of  his  head  in  order  to  disqualify  himself 
from  going  abroad."  *  Yet  all  this  effort  and  sacri- 
fice were  accompanied  by  repeated  and  humiliating 
failures  ;  and  it  was  not  until  he  was  twenty-seven 
years  of  age  that  the  great  orator  of  the  world 

*  Grote's  Hist.,  vol.  xi.,  p.  266,  et  seq. 


300  Liberty  and  Learning. 

achieved  his  first  success  before  the  Athenian  as- 
sembly. 

But  "how  can  the  youth  of  this  age  hope  to  be  fol- 
lowers, even  at  a  distance,  of  Demosthenes,  and  of 
those  his  peers,  who,  by  eloquence,  poetry,  art, 
science,  and  general  learning,  have  added  dignity  to 
the  race,  and  given  lustre  to  generations  separated 
by  oceans  and  centuries,  unless  they  are  animated 
by  a  spirit  of  progress,  and  cheered  by  a  faith  that 
shall  be  manifested  in  the  disposition  and  the  power 
to  overcome  the  obstacles  that  lie  in  every  one's 
path? 

Such  a  course  of  training  requires  individual  effort 
and  personal  self-sacrifice.  It  would  not  be  wise  to 
follow  the  plan  of  the  Athenian  orator  ;  he  adapted 
his  training  to  his  personal  circumstances,  and  the 
customs  of  the  country.  His  history  is  chiefly  val- 
uable for  the  lessons  of  self-reliance,  and  the  example 
of  perseverance  under  discouragements,  that  it  fur- 
nishes. But  it  is  always  a  solemn  duty  to  hold  up 
before  youth  noble  models  of  industry,  perseverance, 
and  success,  that  they  may  be  stimulated  to  the  work 
of  life  by  the  assurance  of  history  that, 

"  Not  enjoyment,  and  not  sorrow, 

Is  our  destined  end  or  way  ; 
Bat  to  act,  that  each  to-morrow 
Find  UB  further  than  to-day." 


Liberty  and  Learning.  301 

III.  The  popular  reading  of  the  day  does  not  con- 
tribute essentially  to  the  education  of  the  citizen  and 
statesman.  —  It  is  not,  of  course,  expected  that  every 
man  is  to  qualify  himself  for  the  life  of  a  statesman  ; 
but  it  does  seem  necessary  for  all  to  be  so  well  in- 
structed in  political  learning  as  to  possess  the  means 
of  forming  a  reasonable  and  philosophical  opinion  of 
the  policy  of  the  government.  It  is  as  discreditable 
to  the  intellect  and  judgment  of  a  free  people  to  com- 
plain of  that  which  is  right  in  itself,  and  rests  upon 
established  principles  of  right,  as  to  submit  without 
resistance  or  murmur  to  usurpation  or  misgovern- 
ment.  I  do  not  mean  to  undervalue  the  periodical 
press  ;  but  it  must  always  assume  something  in  re- 
gard to  its  readers,  and  in  politics  it  must  assume 
that  the  principles  of  government  and  the  history 
of  national  institutions  are  known  and  understood. 

But  the  young  man  should  subject  himself  to  a 
systematic  course  of  training  ;  and  I  know  of  noth- 
ing more  valuable  in  political  studies  than  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  English  history.  Our  principles 
of  government  were  derived  from  England  ;  and  it  is 
in  the  history  of  the  mothej  country  that  the  best 
discussion  of  principles  is  found,  as  in  that  country 
many  of  the  contests  for  liberty  occurred.  But,  as 
our  government  is  the  outgrowth  rather  than  a  copy 
of  British  principles  and  institutions,  the  American 
26 


302  Liberty  and  Learning. 

citizen  is  not  prepared  for  his  duties  until  he  has 
made  himself  familiar  with  American  history,  in  all 
its  departments.  How  ill-suited,  then,  for  the  duties 
of  citizenship  and  public  life,  in  the  formation  of 
taste  and  habits  of  thought,  is  much  of  the  reading 
of  the  present  time  !  And  I  may  here  call  attention 
to  the  fact  that,  each  town  in  Massachusetts  is  in- 
vested with  authority  to  establish  a  public  library 
by  taxation.  This,  it  seems  to  me,  is  one  of  the  most 
important  legislative  acts  of  the  present  decennial 
period  ;  and,  indeed,  a  public  library  is  essential  to  the 
view  I  am  taking  of  the  necessity  and  importance  of 
political  education.  Private  libraries  exist,  but  they 
are  not  found  in  every  house,  nor  can  every  person 
enjoy  their  advantages.  Public  libraries  are  open  to 
all ;  and,  when  the  selection  of  books  is  judicious,  they 
furnish  opportunities  for  education  hardly  less  to  be 
prized  than  the  common  schools  themselves.  The 
public  library  is  not  only  an  aid  to  general  learning, 
a  contributor  to  political  intelligence  and  power,  but 
it  is  an  efficient  supporter  of  sound  morals,  and  all 
good  neighborhood  among  men. 

If  the  public  will  not  offer  to  its  youth  valuable 
reading,  such  as  its  experience,  its  wisdom,  its 
knowledge  of  the  claims  of  society,  its  morality  may 
select,  shall  the  public  complain  if  its  young  men 


Liberty  and  Learning.  303 

and  women  are  tempted  by  frivolous  and  pernicious 
mental  occupations  ?  It  is,  moreover,  the  duty  of 
the  public  to  furnish  the  means  of  self-education, 
especially  in  the  science  of  government ;  and  polit- 
ical learning,  for  the  most  part,  must  be  gained  after 
the  school-going  period  of  life  has  passed. 

Let  American  liberty  be  an  intelligent  liberty,  and 
therefore  a  self-sustaining  liberty.  Freedom,  more 
or  less  complete,  has  been  found  in  two  conditions 
of  life.  Man,  in  a  rude  state,  where  his  condition 
seemed  to  be  normal,  rather  than  the  result  of  a 
process  of  mental  and  moral  degeneracy,  has  often 
possessed  a  large  share  of  independence  ;  but  this 
should  by  no  means  be  confounded  with  what  in 
America  is  called  liberty.  The  independence  of  the 
savage,  or  nomad,  is  manifested  in  the  absence  of 
law  ;  but  the  liberty  of  an  American  citizen  is  the 
power  to  do  whatever  may  be  beneficial  to  himself, 
and  not  injurious  to  his  neighbor  nor  to  the  state. 
The  first  leaves  self-protection  and  self-regulation  to 
the  individual,  while  the  latter  restrains  the  aggress- 
ive tendencies  of  all  for  the  security  of  each.  The 
first  is  natural  equality  without  law  ;  the  second  is 
natural  equality  before  the  law.  With  the  first, 
might  makes  right ;  with  the  latter,  right  makes 
might.  With  the  first,  the  power  of  the  law,  or  of 


304  Liberty  and  Learning. 

the  will  of  an  individual  or  clan,  is  in  the  rigor  and 
success  of  execution  ;  with  the  latter,  the  power  of 
the  law  is  in  the  justice  of  its  demand.  We,  as  a 
people,  have  passed  the  savage  and  nomadic  state, 
and  can  return  to  it  only  after  a  long  and  melancholy 
process  of  decay  and  change,  out  of  which  ultimately 
might  come  a  new  and  savage  race  of  men.  This, 
then,  is  not  our  immediate,  even  if  it  be  a  possible 
danger.  But  we  are  to  guard  against  intellectual, 
political,  and  moral  degeneracy.  We  are,  through 
family,  religious,  and  public  education,  to  take  se- 
curity of  the  childhood  and  youth  of  the  land  for  the 
preservation  of  the  institutions  we  have,  and  for  the 
growth,  greatness,  and  justice,  of  the  republic.  Lib- 
erty in  America,  if  you  will  admit  the  distinction,  is 
a  growth  and  not  a  creation.  The  institutions  of 
liberty  in  America  have  the  same  character.  By 
many  centuries  of  trial,  struggle,  and  contest, 
through  many  years  of  experience,  sometimes  joy- 
ous, and  sometimes  sad,  the  fact  and  the  institutions 
of  liberty  in  America  have  been  evolved.  It  has  not 
been  a  work  of  destruction  and  creation,  but  a  pro- 
cess of  change  and  progress.  And  so  it  must  ever  be. 
Reformation  does  not  often  follow  destruction  ;  and 
they  who  seek  to  destroy  the  institutions  of  a  coun- 
try are  not  its  friends  in  fact,  however  they  may  be 
in  purpose.  Ignorance  can  destroy,  but  intelligence 


Liberty  and  Learning.  305 

is  required  to  reform  or  build  up.  Let  the  prejudice 
against  learning,  not  common  now,  but  possibly 
existing  in  some  minds,  be  forever  banished.  Learn- 
ing is  the  friend  of  liberty.  Of  this  America  has  had 
evidence  in  her  own  history,  and  in  her  observation 
of  the  experience  of  others.  The  literary  institu- 
tions and  the  cultivated  men  of  America,  like  Milton 
and  Hampden  in  England,  preferred 

"  Hard  liberty  before  the  easy  yoke 
Of  servile  pomp." 

It  was  the  intelligence  of  the  country  that  every- 
where uttered  and  everywhere  accepted  the  declar- 
ation of  the  town  of  Boston,  in  the  revolutionary 
struggle,  "  We  can  endure  poverty,  but  we  disdain 
slavery. "  Ignorance  is  quicksand  on  which  no  sta- 
ble political  structure  can  be  built ;  and  I  predict 
the  future  greatness  of  our  beloved  state,  in  those 
historical  qualities  that  outlast  the  ages,  from  the 
fact  that  she  is  not  tempted  by  her  extent  of  terri- 
tory, salubrity  of  climate,  fertility  of  soil,  or  by  tlio 
presence  and  promise  of  any  natural  source  of 
wealth,  to  falter  in  her  devotion  to  learning  and 
liberty.  And  I  anticipate  for  Massachusetts  a  career 
of  influence  beneficial  to  all,  whether  disputed  or 
accepted,  when  I  reflect  that,  with  less  good  fortune 
in  the  presence  and  combination  of  learning  and  lib- 
26* 


306  Liberty  and  Learning. 

erty,  Greece,  Rome,  Venice,  Holland,  and  England, 
enjoyed  power  disproportionate  to  their  respective 
populations,  territory,  and  natural  resources.  And, 
while  the  object  for  which  we  are  convened  may 
pardon  something  to  local  attachments  and  state 
pride,  the  day  and  the  occasion  ought  not  to  pass 
without  a  grateful  and  hearty  acknowledgment  of 
the  interest  manifested  by  other  states  and  sections 
in  the  cause  of  general  learning,  and  especially  in 
common-school  education.  The  Canadas  are  our 
rivals  ;  the  states  of  the  West  are  our  rivals ;  the 
states  of  the  South  are  our  rivals  ;  and,  were  our 
greater  experience  and  better  opportunities  reck- 
oned against  us,  I  know  not  that  there  would  be 
much  in  our  systems  of  education  of  which  we  could 
properly  boast.  It  is,  indeed,  possible  that  North 
Carolina,  untoward  circumstances  having  their  due 
weight,  has  made  more  progress  in  education,  since 
1840,  than  any  other  state  of  the  Union. 

Education  is  not  only  favorable  to  liberty,  but, 
when  associated  with  liberty,  it  is  the  basis  of  the 
Union  and  power  of  the  American  states.  As  cit- 
izens of  the  republic,  we  need  a  better  knowledge  of 
our  national  institutions,  a  better  knowledge  of  the 
institutions  of  the  several  states,  a  more  intimate 
acquaintance  with  one  another,  and  the  power  of 
judging  wisely  and  justly  the  policies  and  measures 


Liberty  and  Learning.  307 

of  each  and  all.  These  ends,  aided  or  accomplished 
by  general  learning,  will  so  strengthen  the  Union  as 
no  force  of  armies  can — will  so  strengthen  the  Union 
as  that  by  no  force  of  armies  can  it  be  overthrown. 


MASSACHUSETTS  SCHOOL  FUND. 

[Extract  from  the  Twenty-Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Education.] 

THE  Massachusetts  School  Fund  was  established 
by  the  Legislature  of  1834  (stat.  1834,  chap.  169), 
and  it  was  provided  by  the  act  that  all  moneys  in 
the  treasury  on  the  first  of  January,  1835,  derived 
from  the  sale  of  lands  in  the  State  of  Maine,  and 
from  the  claim  of  the  state  on  the  government  of  the 
United  States  for  military  services,  and  not  other- 
wise appropriated,  together  with  fifty  per  centum  of 
all  moneys  thereafter  to  be  received  from  the  sale  of 
lands  in  Maine,  should  be  appropriated  to  constitute 
a  permanent  fund,  for  the  aid  and  encouragement  of 
Common  Schools.  It  was  provided  that  the  fund 
should  never  exceed  one  million  of  dollars,  and  that 
the  income  only  should  be  appropriated  to  the  object 
in  view.  The  mode  of  distribution  was  referred  to  a 
subsequent  Legislature.  It  was,  however,  provided 
that  a  greater  sum  should  never  be  paid  to  any  city 
or  town  than  was  raised  therein  for  the  support  of 
common  schools.  There  are  two  points  in  the  law 

(808) 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.         309 

that  deserve  consideration.  First,  the  object  of  the 
fund  was  the  aid  and  encouragement  of  the  schools, 
and  not  their  support ;  and  secondly,  the  limit  of  ap- 
propriation to  the  respective  towns  was  the  amount 
raised  by  each.  There  is  an  apparent  inconsistency 
in  this  restriction  when  it  is  considered  that  the  in- 
come of  the  entire  fund  would  have  been  equal  to 
only  forty-three  cents  for  each  child  in  the  state 
between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years,  and  that 
each  town  raised,  annually,  by  taxation,  a  larger 
sum  ;  but  this  inconsistency  is  to  be  explained  by 
the  fact  that  the  public  sentiment,  as  indicated  by 
resolves  reported  by  the  same  committee  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  commissioners  on  the  subject,  tended 
to  a  distribution  of  money  among  the  towns  accord- 
ing to  their  educational  wants. 

As  early  as  1828,  the  Committee  on  Education  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  in  a  Report  made  by 
Hon.  W.  B.  Calhoun,  declared,  "  That  means  should 
be  devised  for  the  establishment  of  a  fund  having  in 
view  riot  the  support,  but  the  encouragement,  of  the 
common  schools,  and  the  instruction  of  school  teach- 
ers." This  report  was  made  in  the  month  of  Jan- 
uary, and  in  February  following  the  same  committee 
say :  "  The  establishment  of  a  fund  should  look  to 
the  support  of  an  institution  for  the  instruction  of 
school  teachers  in  each  county  in  the  common- 


310          Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

wealth,  and  to  the  distribution,  annually,  to  all  the 
towns,  of  such  a  sum  for  the  benefit  of  the  schools 
as  shall  simply  operate  as  an  encouragement  to  pro- 
portionate efforts  on  the  part  of  the  towns.  A  fund 
which  should  be  so  large  as  to  suffice  for  the  support 

tt 

of  the  whole  school  establishment  of  the  state,  as  is 
the  case  in  Connecticut,  would,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
committee,  be  rather  detrimental  than  advantageous ; 
it  would  only  serve  to  draw  off  from  the  mass  of  the 
community  that  animating  interest  which  will  ever 
be  found  indispensable  where  a  resolute  feeling  upon 
the  subject  is  wished  for  or  expected.  Such  a  result 
is,  in  every  sense,  to  be  deprecated,  and  whatever 
may  tend  to  it,  even  remotely,  should  be  anxiously 
avoided.  A  fund  which  should  admit  of  the  distri- 
bution of  one  thousand  dollars  to  any  town  which 
should  raise  three  thousand  dollars,  in  any  manner 
within  itself,  or  in  that  proportion,  would  operate  as 
a  strong  incentive  to  high  efforts  ;  and,  if  to  tin's 
should  be  added  the  further  requisition  of  a  faithful 
return  to  the  Legislature,  annually,  of  the  condition 
of  the  schools,  the  consequences  could  not  bo  other- 
wise than  decidedly  favorable."  This  report  was 
accompanied  by  a  bill  "  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Massachusetts  Literary  Fund."  The  bill  followed 
the  report  in  regard  to  the  proportionate  amount  of 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.          311 

the  income  of  the  fund  to  be  distributed  to  the  sev- 
eral towns.     This  bill  failed  to  become  a  law. 

In  January,  1833,  the  House  of  Kepresentatives, 
under  an  order  introduced  by  Mr.  Marsh,  of  Dalton, 
appointed  a  committee  "to  consider  the  expediency 
of  investing  a  portion  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales 
of  the  lands  of  this  commonwealth  in  a  permanent 
fund,  the  interest  of  which  should  be  annually  ap- 
plied, as  the  Legislature  should  from  time  to  time 
direct,  for  the  encouragement  of  common  schools." 
The  adoption  of  this  order  was  the  incipient  measure 
that  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Massachusetts 
School  Fund.  On  the  twenty-third  of  the  same 
month,  Mr.  Marsh  submitted  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee. The  committee  acted  upon  the  expectation 
that  all  moneys  then  in  the  treasury  derived  from 
the  sale  of  public  lands,  and  the  entire  proceeds  of 
all  subsequent  sales,  were  to  be  set  apart  as  a  fund 
for  the  encouragement  of  common  schools  ;  but,  as 
blanks  were  left  in  the  bill  reported,  they  seem  not 
to  have  been  sanguine  of  the  liberality  of  the  Legis- 
lature. The  cash  and  notes  on  hand  amounted  to 
$234,418.32,  and  three  and  a  half  millions  of  acres 
of  land  unsold  amounted,  at  the  estimated  price  of 
forty  cents  per  acre,  to  $1,400,000  more  ;  making 
together  a  fund  with  a  capital  of  $1,634,418.32. 
The  income  was  estimated  at  $98,065.09.  It  was 


312          Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

also  stated  that  there  were  140,000  children  in  the 
state  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years,  and 
it  was  therefore  expected  that  the  income  of  the 
fund  would  permit  a  distribution  to  the  towns  of 
seventy  cents  for  each  child  between  the  afore-named 
ages.  This  certainly  was  a  liberal  expectation,  com- 
pared with  the  results  that  have  been  attained.  The 
distributive  share  of  each  child  has  amounted  to  only 
about  one-third  of  the  sum  then  contemplated.  The 
committee  were  careful  to  say,  "  It  is  not  intended, 
in  establishing  a  school  fund,  to  relieve  towns  and 
parents  from  the  principal  expense  of  education  ; 
but  to  manifest  our  interest  in,  and  to  give  direction, 
energy,  and  stability  to,  institutions  essential  to  indi- 
vidual happiness  and  the  public  welfare."  In  con- 
clusion, the  committee  make  the  following  inquiries 
and  suggestions  : 

"  Should  not  our  common  schools  be  brought 
nearer  to  their  constitutional  guardians  ?  Shall  we 
not  adopt  measures  which  shall  bind,  in  grateful 
alliance,  the  youth  to  the  governors  of  the  common- 
wealth ?  We  consider  the  application,  annually,  of 
the  interest  of  the  proposed  fund,  as  the  establish- 
ment of  a  direct  communication  betwixt  the  Legisla- 
ture and  the  schools  ;  as  each  representative  can 
carry  home  the  bounty  of  the  government,  and  bring 
back  from  the  schools  returns  of  gratitude  and  pro- 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.          313 

ficiency.  They  will  then  cheerfully  render  all  such 
information  as  the  Legislature  may  desire.  A  new 
spirit  would  animate  the  community,  from  which  we 
might  hope  the*most  happy  results.  This  endow- 
ment would  give  the  schools  consequence  and  char- 
acter, and  would  correct  and  elevate  the  standard  of 
education. 

"  Therefore,  to  preserve  the  purity,  extend  the 
usefulness,  and  perpetuate  the  benefits  of  intelli- 
gence, we  recommend  that  a  fund  be  constituted, 
and  the  distribution  of  the  income  so  ordered  as  to 
open  a  direct  and  more  certain  intercourse  with  the 
schools  ;  believing  that  by  this  measure  their  wants 
would  be  better  understood  and  supplied,  the  advan- 
tages of  education  more  highly  appreciated  and 
improved,  and  the  blessings  of  wisdom,  virtue,  and 
knowledge,  carried  home  to  the  fireside  of  every 
family,  to  the  bosom  of  every  child."  The  bill  re- 
ported by  this  committee  was  read  twice,  and  then, 
upon  Mr.  Marsh's  motion,  referred  to  the  next  Legis- 
lature. 

In  1834,  the  bill  from  the  files  of  the  last  General 
Court  to  establish  the  Massachusetts  School  Fund, 
and  so  much  of  the  petition  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Seekonk  as  related  to  the  same  subject,  were  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Education. 

In  the  month  of  February,  Hon.  A.  D.  Foster,  of 
27 


314          Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

Worcester,  chairman  of  the  committee,  made  a  re- 
port, and  submitted  a  bill  which  was  the  basis  of  the 
law  of  March  31,  1834.  The  committee  were  sensi- 
ble of  the  importance  of  establishing  a  fund  for  the 
encouragement  of  the  common  schools.  These  insti- 
tutions were  languishing  for  support,  and  in  a  great 
degree  destitute  of  the  public  sympathy.  There 
were  no  means  of  communication  between  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  schools,  and  in  some  sections  towns 
and  districts  had  set  themselves  resolutely  against 
all  interference  by  the  state.  In  1832,  an  effort  was 
made  to  ascertain  the  amount  raised  for  the  support 
of  schools.  Returns  were  received  from  only  ninety- 
nine  towns,  showing  an  annual  average  expenditure 
of  one  dollar  and  ninety-eight  cents  for  each  pupil. 

The  interest  in  this  subject  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  confined  to  the  Legislature,  nor  even  to  have 
originated  there.  The  report  of  the  committee  con- 
tains an  extract  from  a  communication  made  by  Rev. 
William  C.  Woodbridge,  then  editor  of  the  American 
Annals  of  Education  and  Instruction.  His  views  were 
adopted  by  the  committee,  and  they  corresponded 
with  those  which  have  been  already  quoted.  The 
dangers  of  a  large  fund  were  presented,  and  the 
example  of  Connecticut,  and  some  states  of  the 
West,  where  school  funds  had  diminished  rather 
than  increased  the  public  interest  in  education,  was 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.          315 

tendered  as  a  warning  against  a  too  liberal  appro- 
priation of  public  money.  On  the  other  hand,  Mr. 
Woodbridge  claimed  that  the  establishment  of  a 
fund  which  should  encourage  efforts  rather  than  sup- 
ply all  wants,  and,  without  sustaining  the  schools, 

i 
give  aid  to  the  people  in  proportion  to  their  own 

contributions,  was  a  measure  indispensable  to  the 
cause  of  education.  He  also  referred  to  the  expe- 
rience of  New  Jersey,  which  had  made  a  general 
appropriation  to  be  paid  to  those  towns  that  should 
contribute  for  the  support  of  their  own  schools;  but, 
such  was  the  public  indifference,  that  after  many 
years  the  money  was  still  in  the  treasury.  Hence  it 
was  inferred  that  all  these  measures  were  ineffectual, 
and  that  mere  taxation  was,  upon  the  whole,  to  be 
preferred  to  any  imperfect  system.  But  the  example 
of  New  York  was  approved,  where  the  distribution 
of  a  small  sum,  equal  to  about  twenty  cents  for  each 
pupil,  had  increased  the  public  interest,  and  wrought 
what  then  seemed  to  be  an  effectual  and  permanent 
revolution  in  educational  affairs.  These  facts  and 
reasonings,  say  the  committee,  seem  to  be  important 
and  sound,  and  to  result  in  this, — that  no  provision 
ought  to  be  made  which  shall  diminish  the  present 
amount  of  money  raised  by  taxes  for  the  schools,  or 
the  interest  felt  by  the  people  in  their  prosperity  ; 
that  a  fund  may  be  so  used  as  satisfactorily  to  in- 


316         Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

crease  both  —  and  that  further  information  in  regard 
to  our  schools  is  requisite  to  determine  the  best  mode 
of  doing  this.  These  opinions  are  supported  gener- 
ally by  the  judgment  of  the  present  generation.  Yet 
it  is  to  be  remarked,  by  way  of  partial  dissent,  that 
the  public  apathy  in  Connecticut  and  the' states  of 
the  West  was  not  in  a  great  degree  the  effect  of  the 
funds,  but  was  rather  a  coexisting,  independent  fact. 
It  ought  not,  therefore,  to  have  been  expected  that 
the  mere  offer  of  money  for  educational  purposes, 
while  the  people  had  no  just  idea  of  the  importance 
of  education  or  of  the  means  by  which  it  could  be 
acquired,  would  lead  them  even  to  accept  the  prof- 
fered boon  ;  and  it  certainly,  in  their  judgment,  fur- 
nished no  reason  for  self-taxation.  It  is,  however,  no 
doubt  true  that  the  power  of  local  taxation  for  the 
support  of  schools  is  in  its  exercise  a  means  of  pro- 
voking interest  in  education  ;  and  it  is  reasonable  to 
assume  that  a  public  system  of  instruction  will  never 
be  vigorous  and  efficient  at  all  times  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances where  the  right  of  local  taxation  docs  not 
exist  or  is  not  exercised.  When  the  entire  expendi- 
ture is  derived  from  the  income  of  public  funds,  or 
obtained  by  a  universal  tax,  and  the  proceeds  dis- 
tributed among  the  towns,  parishes,  or  districts, 
there  will  often  be  general  conditions  of  public  senti- 
ment unfavorable,  if  not  hostile,  to  schools  ;  and, 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.          317 

there  will  always  be  found  in  any  state,  however 
small,  local  indifference  and  lethargy  which  render 
all  gifts,  donations,  and  distributions,  comparatively 
valueless.  The  subject  of  self-taxation  annually  is 
important  in  connection  with  a  system  of  free  edu- 
cation. It  is  the  experience  of  the  states  of  this 
country  that  the  people  themselves  are  more  gener- 
ous in  the  use  of  this  power  than  are  their  represent- 
atives ;  and  it  is  also  true  that  when  the  power  has 
been  exercised  by  the  people,  there  is  usually  more 
interest  awakened  in  regard  to  modes  of  expendi- 
ture, and  more  zeal  manifested  in  securing  adequate 
returns.  The  private  conversations  and  public  de- 
bates often  arouse  an  interest  which  would  never 
have  been  manifested  had  the  means  of  education 
been  furnished  by  a  fund,  or  been  distributed  as  the 
proceeds  of  a  general  tax  assessed  by  the  govern- 
ment of  the  state. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  much  of  our  success  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  in  all  the  towns  the  question 
of  taxation  is  annually  submitted  to  the  people. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  the  sum  of  our  municipal 
appropriations  never  could  have  been  increased 
from  $387,124.11,  in  183T,  to  $1,341,252.03,  in 
1858,  without  the  influence  of  the  statistical  tables 
that  are  appended  to  the  Annual  Reports  of  tlw 
Board  of  Education  ;  and  it  is  also  true  that  the 
27* 


318         Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

materials  for  these  tables  could  not  have  been  se- 
cured without  the  agency  of  the  school  fund.  Our 
experience  as  a  state  confirms  the  wisdom  of  the 
reports  of  1833  and  1834  ;  and  I  unreservedly  con- 
cur in  the  opinion  that  a  fund  ought  not  to  be  suffi- 
cient for  the  support  of  schools,  but  that  such  a  fund 
is  needed  to  give  encouragement  to  the  towns,  to 
stimulate  the  people  to  make  adequate  local  appro- 
priations, to  secure  accurate  and  complete  returns 
from  the  committees,  and  finally  to  provide  means  for 
training  teachers,  and  for  defraying  the  necessary  ex- 
penses of  the  educational  department.  The  law  of 
1834,  establishing  the  school  fund,  was  reeuacted  in 
the  Revised  Statutes  (chap.  11,  sects.  13  and  14).  The 
Revised  Statutes  (chap.  23,  sects.  62,  63,  64,  65,  66, 
and  67)  also  required  that  returns  should  be  made, 
each  year,  from  all  the  towns  of  the  commonwealth, 
of  the  condition  of  the  schools  in  various  important 
particulars.  The  income  of  the  fund  was  to  be  ap- 
portioned among  the  towns  that  had  raised,  the  pre- 
ceding year,  the  sum  of  one  dollar  by  taxation  for 
each  pupil,  and  had  complied  with  the  laws  in  other 
respects  ;  and  it  was  to  be  distributed  according  to 
the  number  of  persons  in  each  between  the  ages  of 
four  and  sixteen  years.  These  provisions  have  since 
been  frequently  and  variously  modified  ;  but  at  all 
times  the  state  has  imposed  similar  conditions  upon 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.         319 

the  towns.  By  the  statute  of  1839,  chapter  56,  the 
income  of  the  school  fund  was  to  be  apportioned 
among  those  towns  that  had  raised  by  taxation  for 
the  support  of  schools  the  sum  of  one  dollar  and 
twenty-five  cents  for  each  person  between  the  ages 
of  four  and  sixteen  years  ;  and,  by  the  law  of  1849, 
chapter  117,  the  income  was  to  be  apportioned  among 
those  towns  which  had  raised  by  taxation  the  sum  of 
one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  for  the  education  of  each 
person  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years. 
This  provision  is  now  in  force.  By  an  act  of  the 
Legislature,  passed  April  15th,  1846,  it  was  provided 
that  all  sums  of  money  which  should  thereafter  be 
drawn  from  the  treasury,  for  educational  purposes, 
should  be  considered  as  a  charge  upon  the  moiety  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  set  apart 
for  the  purpose  of  constituting  a  school  fund.  This 
provision  continued  in  force  until  the  reorganization 
of  the  fund,  in  1854.  By  the  law  of  that  year  (chap. 
300),  it  was  provided  that  one  half  of  the  annual 
income  of  the  fund  should  be  apportioned  and  dis- 
tributed among  the  towns  according  to  the  then 
existing  provisions  of  law,  and  that  the  educational 
expenses  before  referred  to  should  be  chargeable  to 
and  paid  from  the  other  half  of  the  income  of  said 
fund.  These  provisions  are  now  in  force. 

The  limitation  of  the  act  of  1834,  establishing  the 


320          Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

fund,  and  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  was  removed  by 
the  law  of  1851,  chapter  112,  and  the  amount  of  the 
fund  was  then  fixed  at  one  million  and  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  By  the  act  of  1854  the  principal 
was  limited  to  two  millions  of  dollars.  The  Consti- 
tutional Convention  of  1853  had,  with  great  unanim- 
ity, declared  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  to 
provide  for  the  increase  of  the  school  fund  to  the 
sum  of  two  millions  of  dollars  ;  and,  though  the  pro- 
posed constitution  was  rejected  by  the  people,  the 
provision  concerning  the  fund  was  generally,  if  not 
universally,  acceptable.  Under  these  circumstances, 
the  legislature  of  1854  may  be  said  to  have  acted  in 
conformity  to  the  known  opinion  and  purpose  of  the 
state. 

On  the  1st  of  June,  1858,  the  principal  of  the  fund 
was  $1,522,898.41,  including  the  sum  of  $1,843.68, 
added  during  the  year  preceding  that  date.  In  this 
statement  no  notice  is  taken  of  the  rights  of  the 
school  fund  in  the  Western  Railroad  Loan  Sinking 
Fund. 

It  may  be  observed  that  the  committee  of  1833 
contemplated  the  establishment  of  a  fund,  with  a 
capital  of  $1,634,418.32,  and  yet,  after  twenty-five 
years,  the  Massachusetts  School  Fund  amounts  to 
only  $1,522,898.41.  Its  present  means  of  increase 
arc  limited  to  the  excess  of  one-half  of  the  annual 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.         321 

income  over  the  current  educational  expenses.  The 
increase  for  the  year  1856-7  was  $4,142.90;  and 
for  the  year  1857-8,  $1,843.68.  With  this  resource 
only,  and  at  this  rate  of  increase,  about  one  hundred 
and  sixty  years  will  be  required  for  the  augmentation 
of  the  capital  to  the  maximum  contemplated  by  ex- 
isting laws.  But  the  educational  wants  of  the  state 
are  such  that  even  this  scanty  supply  must  soon 
cease.  It  is  then  due  to  the  magnitude  of  the  prop- 
osition for  the  considerable  and  speedy  increase  of 
the  school  fund,  that  its  necessity,  if  possible,  or 
its  utility,  at  least,  should  be  satisfactorily  demon- 
strated ;  and  it  is  for  this  purpose  that  I  have  already 
presented  a  brief  sketch  of  its  history  in  connection 
with  the  legislation  of  the  commonwealth,  and  that  I 
now  proceed  to  set  forth  its  relations  to  the  practical 
work  of  public  instruction. 

When  the  fund  was  instituted,  public  sentiment  in 
regard  to  education  was  lethargic,  if  not  retrograd- 
ing. The  mere  fact  of  the  action  of  the  Legislature 
lent  new  importance  to  the  cause  of  learning,  in- 
spired its  advocates  with  additional  zeal,  gave  effi- 
ciency to  previous  and  subsequent  legislation,  and, 
as  though  there  had  been  a  new  creation,  evoked 
order  out  of  chaos. 

Previous  to  1834  there  was  no  trustworthy  inform- 
ation concerning  the  schools  of  the  state.  The  law 


322          Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

of  1826,  chapter  143,  section  8,  required  each  town 
to  make  a  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Common- 
wealth, of  the  amount  of  money  paid,  the  number  of 
schools,  the  aggregate  number  of  months  that  the 
schools  of  each  city  and  town  were  kept,  the  num- 
ber of  male  and  female  teachers,  the  whole  number 
of  pupils,  the  number  of  private  schools  and  acade- 
mies and  the  number  of  pupils  therein,  the  amount 
of  compensation  paid  to  the  instructors  of  private 
schools  and  academies,  and  the  number  of  persons 
between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  twenty-one  years 
who  were  unable  to  read  and  write.  The  Legislature 
did  not  provide  a  penalty  for  neglect  of  this  provision, 
nor  does  there  seem  to  have  been  any  just  method  of 
compelling1  obedience.  The  Secretary  of  the  Com- 
monwealth sent  out  blank  forms  of  returns,  and  re- 
plies were  received  from  two  hundred  and  fourteen 
towns,  while  eighty-eight  were  entirely  silent. 

The  returns  received  furnish  a  series  of  interesting 
facts  for  the  year  1826.  There  were  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-six  district  schools,  sup- 
ported at  an  expense  of  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  thousand  two  hundred  and  nineteen  dollars  and 
miH'ty  cents  ($226,219.90),  while  there  were  nine 
hundred  and  fifty-three  academies  and  private  schools 
maintained  at  a  cost  of  $192,455.10.  The  whole  num- 
ber of  children  attending  public  schools  was  117,186, 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.         323 

and  the  number  educated  in  private  schools  and  acad- 
emies was  25,083.  The  expense,  therefore,  was 
$7.67  per  pupil  in  the  private  schools,  and  only 
$1.93  each  in  the  public  schools.  These  facts  are  in- 
dicative of  the  condition  of  public  sentiment.  About 
one-sixth  of  the  children  of  the  state  were  educated 
in  academies  and  private  schools,  at  a  cost  equal  to 
about  six-sevenths  of  the  amount  paid  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  remaining  five-sixths,  who  attended  the 
public  schools.  The  returns  also  showed  that  there 
were  2,974  children  between  the  ages  of  seven  and 
fourteen  years  who  did  not  attend  school,  and  530 
persons  over  fourteen  years  of  age  who  were  unable 
to  read  and  write.  The  incompleteness  of  these  re- 
turns detracts  from  their  value  ;  but,  as  those  towns 
where  the  greatest  interest  existed  were  more  likely 
to  respond  to  the  call  of  the  Legislature,  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  actual  condition  of  the  whole  state 
was  below  that  of  the  two  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
towns.  The  interest  which  the  law  of  1826  had 
called  forth  was  temporary  ;  and  in  March,  1832, 
the  Committee  on  Education,  to  whom  was  referred 
an  order  with  instructions  to  inquire  into  the  expedi- 
ency of  providing  a  fund  to  furnish,  in  certain  cases, 
common  schools  with  apparatus,  books,  and  such 
other  aid  as  may  be  necessary  to  raise  the  standard 
of  common  school  education,  say  that  they  desire 


324         Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

more  accurate  knowledge  than  could  then  be  ob- 
tained. The  returns  required  by  law  were  in  many 
cases  wholly  neglepted,  and  in  others  they  were 
inaccurately  made.  In  the  year  1831  returns  were 
received  from  only  eighty-six  towns.  In  order  to 
obtain  the  desired  information,  a  special  movement 
was  made  by  the  Legislature.  The  report  of  the 
committee  was  printed  in  all  the  newspapers  that 
published  the  laws  of  the  commonwealth,  and  the 
Secretary  was  directed  to  prepare  and  present  to  the 
Legislature  an  abstract  of  the  returns  which  should 
be  received  from  the  several  towns  for  the  year  1832. 
The  result  of  this  extraordinary  effort  was  seen  in 
returns  from  only  ninety-nine  of  three  hundred  and 
five  towns,  and  even  a  large  part  of  these  were 
confessedly  inaccurate  or  incomplete.  They  present, 
however,  some  remarkable  facts. 

The  following  table,  prepared  from  the  returns  of 
1832,  shows  the  relative  standing  and  cost  of  public 
and  private  schools  in  a  part  of  the  principal  towns. 
It  appears  that  the  towns  named  in  the  table  were 
educating  rather  more  than  two-thirds  of  their  chil- 
dren in  the  public  schools,  at  an  expense  of  $2.88 
each,  and  nearly  one-third  in  private  schools,  at  a 
cost  of  $12.70  each,  and  that  the  total  expenditure 
for  public  instruction  was  about  thirty-six  per  cent, 
of  the  outlay  for  educational  purposes. 


Massachusetts  School  Fund. 


325 


fli 

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is 
11 

'5.  §  "3  ~  ^ 

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^£ 

t!  1  S  1  1 

1  g  1  g  | 

TOWNS. 

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•5  *"  .2  ^ 

'O'SJD 

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|83|| 

Beverly,  .  . 

$1,800  00 

580 

28 

490 

$2,365  33 

Bradford,  . 

750  00 

600 

9 

177 

1,725  00 

Danvers,   . 

2,000  00 

873 

6 

150 

1,500  00 

Marblehead, 

2,200  00 

650 

31 

650 

3,800  00 

Cambridge, 

3,600  00 

970 

16 

441 

5,732  00 

Medford,   . 

1,200  00 

284 

6 

151 

2,372  00 

Newton,     . 

1,600  00 

542 

3 

100 

2,975  00 

Amherst,  . 

850  00 

556 

2 

270 

4,600  00 

Springfield, 

3,600  00 

1,957 

4 

300 

2,500  00 

Greenfield, 

633  75 

216 

2 

65 

1,400  00 

Dorchester, 

2,599  00 

613 

15 

124 

1,800  00 

Quincy,  .    . 

1,800  00 

465 

7 

106 

2,741  50 

Roxbury,  . 

4,450  00 

836 

12 

313 

8,218  00 

New  Bedford 

4,000  00 

1,268 

15 

537 

6,300  00 

Hingham,  . 

2,144  00 

703 

8 

180 

2,625  00 

Provincetown, 

584  32 

450 

4 

140 

800  00 

Edgartown, 

450  00 

350 

10 

100 

2,700  00 

Nantucket, 

2,633  40 

882 

50 

1,084 

10,795  00 

18  Towns, 

$36,894  47 

12,795 

228 

5,378 

$64,948  83 

The  evidence  is  sufficient  that  the  public  schools 
were  in  a  deplorable  and  apparently  hopeless  con- 

• 

dition. 

The  change  that  has  been  effected  in  the  eighteen 
towns  named  may  be  seen  by  comparing  the  follow- 
ing table  with  the  one  already  given.  In  1832,  64 
per  cent,  of  the  amount  paid  for  education  was  ex- 
pended in  academies  and  private  schools,  while  in 
1858  only  24  per  cent,  was  so  expended.  In  the  same 
period  the  amount  raised  for  public  schools  increased 

from  less  than  thirty-seven  thousand  dollars  to  more 
28 


326         Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

than  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  thousand  dollars. 
At  the  first  period,  the  attendance  of  pupils  upon 
academies  and  private  schools  was  nearly  30  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  number,  while  in  1858  it  was  only 
8  per  cent.  The  private  schools  of  some  of  these 
towns  were  established  recently,  and  are  sustained 
in  a  degree  by  pupils  who  are  not  inhabitants  of  the 
state,  but  who  have  come  among  us  for  the  pur- 
pose of  enjoying  the  culture  which  our  teachers  and 
schools,  private  as  well  as  public,  are  able  to  fur- 
nish. If,  as  seems  probable,  the  number  of  foreign 
pupils  was  less  in  1832  than  in  1858,  the  decrease  of 
pupils  in  private  schools  would  be  greater  than  is 
indicated  by  the  tables.  The  cost  of  education,  as 
it  appears  by  this  table,  is  rather  more  than  thirty 
dollars  per  pupil  in  the  private  schools,  and  only 
eight  dollars  and  forty-nine  cents  in  the  public 
schools.  In  the  following  table,  Bradford  includes 
Groveland,  Danvers  includes  South  Danvers,  Spring- 
field includes  Chicopee,  and  Roxbury  includes  West 
Roxbury.  This  is  rendered  necessary  for  the  pur- 
poses of  comparison,  as  Groveland,  South  Danvers, 
Chicopee,  and  West  Roxbury,  have  been  incorpo- 
rated since  1832. 


Massachusetts  School  Fund. 


327 


•§£•§•§  -3  3 

£3  eg 

c'H-S 

55 

s-i 

«5  HI'S 

I1-** 

111 

cl 

§1 

|»|tSS8 

*"  ^    D 

•si- 

;l 

°"i-~ 

Iflffijj 

,8  g  be 
e.1^  3  -3 

ll2 

l| 

TOWNS. 

Soo'll  i'e'Sj'slJ  » 

Ijj 

*£ 

"S   c3 

Mi 

ill  . 

"s  «  ti 

Hj 

Hi 

|Aff*Af.ft 

|3.s3S 

|=S3 

.S    E  05 

I1" 

•5  =  a 
|_^ 

Beverly,    .    .    . 

$5,748  20 

1,114 

1 

10 

$100  uo 

Bradford,      .    . 

2,416  47 

513 

2 

84 

1,720  00 

Danvers,        .    . 

14,829  52 

2,086 

1 

40 

360  00 

Marblehead,  .    . 

7,311  10 

1,188 

6 

160 

1,390  00 

Cambridge,  .    . 

37,420  86 

4,710 

14 

400 

15,000  00 

Medford,   .   .    . 

7,794  44 

837 

5 

130 

3,800  00 

Newton,    .   .   . 

12,263  50 

1,138 

8 

308 

22,800  00 

Amherst,  .    .    . 

2,142  80 

536 

5 

121 

3,934  00 

Springfield,  .    . 

27,324  84 

3,864 

6 

_ 

_ 

Greenfield,    .    . 

2,627  50 

589 

2 

25 

1,800  00 

Dorchester,   .    . 

22,338  51 

1,795 

1 

31 

600  00 

Quincy,  .... 

8,861  46 

1  ,260 

2 

20 

225  00 

lloxbury,       .    . 

50,000  00 

4,400 

25 

561 

10,600  00 

New  Bedford,  . 

36,074  25 

3,548 

20 

434 

15,074  00 

Hingham,  .    .    . 

4,904  13 

728 

2 

71 

1,717  56 

Provincetown,  . 

3,147  26 

689 

_ 

_ 

_ 

Edgar  town,  .    . 

2,578  63 

380 

8 

96 

200  00 

Nantuckat,    .   . 

11,596  27 

1,198 

13 

259 

3,466  23 

Totals,  .   .    . 

$259,379  74 

30,553 

121      2,750 

$82,786  79 

The  Legislature  of  1834  acted  with  wisdom  and 
energy.  The  school  fund  having  been  established, 
the  towns  were  next  required  to  furnish  answers  to 
certain  questions  that  were  substituted  for  the  requi- 
sition of  the  statute  of  1826,  and  any  town  whose 
committee  failed  to  make  the  return  was  to  be  de- 
prived of  its  share  of  the  income  of  the  school  fund, 


328         Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

whenever  it  should  be  first  distributed.  (Res.  1834, 
chap.  78.) 

Those  measures  were  in  the  highest  degree  salu- 
tary. There  were  305  towns  in  the  state,  and  re- 
turns were  received  from  261.  There  was  still  a 
want  of  accuracy  and  completeness ;  but  from  this 
time  forth  the  state  secured  what  had  never  before 
been  attained,  —  intelligent  legislation  by  the  gov- 
ernment, and  intelligent  cooperation  and  support  by 
the  people. 

In  December,  1834,  the  Secretary  of  the  Com- 
monwealth prepared  an  aggregate  of  the  returns 
received,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy  : 

Number  of  towns  from  which  returns  have  been  received,  .  2G1 

Number  of  school  districts 2,251 

Number  of  male  children  attending  school  from  four  to  sixteen 

years  of  age, 67,499 

Number  of  female  children  attending  school  from  four  to  sixteen 

years  of  age, 63,728 

Number  over  sixteen  and  under  twenty-one  unable  to  read  and 

write, 158 

Number  of  male  instructors, 1,967 

Number  of  female  instructors, 2,888 

Amount  raised  by  tax  to  support  schools,  ....  $810,178  87 
Amount  raised  by  contribution  to  support  schools,  .  .  15,141  25 
Average  number  of  scholars  attending  academies  and  private 

schools 24,749 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.          329 

Estimated  amount  paid  for  tuition  in  academies  and  private 

schools, $276,575  75 

Local  funds  —  Yes, 71 

Local  funds  —  No,  .   .   . 181 

Thus,  by  the  institution  of  the  school  fund,  pro- 
vision was  made  for  a  system  of  annual  returns,  from 
which  has  been  drawn  a  series  of  statistical  tables, 
that  have  not  only  exhibited  the  school  system  as  a 
whole  and  in  its  parts,  but  have  also  contributed 
essentially  to  its  improvement. 

These  statistics  have  been  so  accurate  and  com- 
plete, for  many  years,  as  to  furnish  a  safe  basis  for 
legislation  ;  and  they  have  at  the  same  time  been 
employed  by  the  friends  of  education  as  means  for 
awakening  local  interest,  and  stimulating  and  en- 
couraging the  people  to  assume  freely  and  bear 
willingly  the  burdens  of  taxation.  It  is  now  easy 
for  each  town,  or  for  any  inhabitant,  to  know  what 
has  been  done  in  any  other  town  ;  and,  as  a  con- 
sequence, those  that  do  best  are  a  continual  example 
to  those  that,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  might 
be  indifferent.  The  establishment  and  efficiency  of 
the  school-committee  system  is  due  also  to  the  same 
agency.  There  are,  I  fear,  some  towns  that  would 
now  neglect  to  choose  a  school  committee,  were 
there  not  a  small  annual  distribution  of  money  by 
28* 


330         Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

the  state  ;  but,  in  1832,  the  duty  was  often  either 
neglected  altogether,  or  performed  in  such  a  manner 
that  no  appreciable  benefit  was  produced.  The  su- 
perintending committee  is  the  most  important  agency 
connected  with  our  system  of  instruction.  In  some 
portions  of  the  state  the  committees  are  wholly,  and 
in  others  they  are  partly,  responsible  for  the  qualifi- 
cations of  teachers  ;  they  everywhere  superintend 
and  give  character  to  the  schools,  and  by  their  an- 
nual reports  they  exert  a  large  influence  over  public 
opinion.  The  people  now  usually  elect  well-qualified 
men ;  and  it  is  believed  that  the  extracts  from  the 
local  reports,  published  annually  by  the  Board  of 
Education,  constitute  the  best  series  of  papers  in  the 
language  upon  the  various  topics  that  have  from 
time  to  time  been  considered.*  By  the  publication 

*  An  eminent  friend  of  education,  and  an  Englishman,  speaking 
of  the  reports  for  the  year  1856-7,  says  :  "  The  views  enunciated 
by  your  local  committees,  while  they  have  the  sobriety  indicative 
of  practical  knowledge,  are  at  the  same  time  enlightened  and  ex 
pansive.  The  writers  of  such  reports  must  be  of  inestimable  aid 
to  your  schoolmasters,  standing  as  they  do  between  the  teacher 
and  the  parent,  and  exercising  the  most  wholesome  influence  on 
both.  Let  me  remark,  in  pissing,  that  I  am  struck  with  the  power 
of  composition  evinced  in  these  provincial  papers.  Clear  exposi- 
tion, great  command  of  the  best  English,  correctness  and  even 
dlginrf  of  style,  are  their  characteristics." 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.          331 

of  these  abstracts,  the  committees,  and  indeed  the 
people  generally,  are  made  acquainted  with  every- 
thing that  has  been  done,  or  is  at  any  time  doing, 
in  the  commonwealth.  Improvements  that  would 
otherwise  remain  local  are  made  universal ;  inform- 
ation in  regard  to  general  errors  is  easily  commu- 
nicated, and  the  errors  themselves  are  speedily 
removed,  while  the  system  is,  in  all  respects,  ren- 
dered homogeneous  and  efficient. 

Nor  does  it  seem  to  be  any  disparagement  of 
Massachusetts  to  assume  that,  in  some  degree,  she 
is  indebted  to  the  school  fund  for  the  consistent  and 
steady  policy  of  the  Legislature,  pursued  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  and  executed  by  the  agency 
of  the  Board  of  Education.  In  this  period,  normal 
schools  have  been  established,  which  have  educated 
a  large  number  of  teachers,  and  exerted  a  powerful 
and  ever  increasing  influence  in  favor  of  good  learn- 
ing. Teachers'  Institutes  have  been  authorized,  and 
the  experiment  successfully  tested.  Agents  of  the 
Board  of  Education  have  been  appointed,  so  that  it 
is  now  possible,  by  the  aid  of  both  these  means,  as 
is  shown  by  accompanying  returns  and  statements, 
to  afford,  each  year,  to  the  people  of  a  majority  of  the 
towns  an  opportunity  to  confer  with  those  who  are 
specially  devoted  to  the  work  of  education.  In  all 
this  period  of  time,  the  Legislature  has  never  been 


332         Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

called  upon  to  provide  money  for  the  expenses  which 
have  thus  been  incurred  ;  and,  though  a  rigid  scru- 
tiny has  been  exercised  over  the  expenditures  of  the 
educational  department,  measures  for  the  promotion 
of  the  common  schools  have  never  been  considered 
in  relation  to  the  general  finances  of  the  common- 
wealth. While  some  states  have  hesitated,  and 
others  have  vacillated,  Massachusetts  has  had  a 
consistent,  uniform,  progressive  policy,  which  is  due 
in  part  to  the  consideration  already  named,  and  in 
part,  no  doubt,  to  a  popular  opinion,  traditional  and 
historical  in  its  origin,  but  sustained  and  strength- 
ened by  the  measures  and  experience  of  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century,  that  a  system  of  public  instruc- 
tion is  so  important  an  element  of  general  pros- 
perity as  to  justify  all  needful  appropriations  for  its 
support. 

It  may,  then,  be  claimed  for  the  Massachusetts 
School  Fund,  that  the  expectations  of  those  by 
whom  it  was  established  have  been  realized  ;  that  it 
has  given  unity  and  efficiency  to  the  school  system  ; 
that  it  has  secured  accurate  and  complete  returns 
from  all  the  towns  ;  that  it  has,  consequently,  pro- 
moted a  good  understanding  between  the  Legislature 
and  the  people  ;  that  it  has  increased  local  taxation, 
but  has  never  been  a  substitute  for  it ;  and  that  it 
has  enabled  the  Legislature,  at  all  times  and  in  every 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.          333 

condition  of  the  general  finances,  to  act  with  freedom 
in  regard  to  those  agencies  which  are  deemed  essen- 
tial to  the  prosperity  of  the  common  schools  of  the 
state. 

Having  thus,  in  the  history  of  the  school  fund, 
fully  justified  its  establishment,  so  in  its  history  we 
find  sufficient  reasons  for  its  sacred  preservation. 
While  other  communities,  and  even  other  states, 
have  treated  educational  funds  as  ordinary  revenue, 
subject  only  to  an  obligation  on  the  part  of  the  pub- 
lic to  bestow  an  annual  income  on  the  specified 
object,  Massachusetts  has  ever  acted  in  a  fiduciary 
relation,  and  considered  herself  responsible  for  the 
principal  as  well  as  the  income  of  the  fund,  not  only 
to  this  generation,  but  to  every  generation  that  shall 
occupy  the  soil,  and  inherit  the  name  and  fame  of 
this  commonwealth. 

It  only  remains  for  me  to  present  the  reasons 
which  render  an  increase  of  the  capital  of  the  fund 
desirable,  if  not  necessary.  The  annual  income  of 
the  existing  fund  amounts  to  about  ninety-three 
thousand  dollars,  one-half  of  which  is  distributed 
among  the  towns  and  cities,  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  persons  in  each  between  the  ages  of  five 
and  fifteen  years.  The  distribution  for  the  year 
1857-8  amounted  to  twenty  cents  and  eight  mills 
for  each  child.  The  following  table  shows  the  annual 


334         Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

distribution  to  the  towns  from  the  year  1836  ;  the 
whole  number  of  children  for  each  year  except  183G 
and  1840,  when  the  entire  population  was  the  basis ; 
and  the  amount  paid  on  account  of  each  child  since 
the  year  1849,  when  the  law  establishing  the  present 
method  of  distribution  was  enacted  : 


Tear. 

1836. 

Children. 

Income. 

Income 
per 

pupil. 

Year. 

Children. 

Income. 

L'er  1'u- 
pil  in 
Cents  & 
Mills. 

473,684 

$16,230  57* 

— 

1848. 

210,403 

$33,874  87 

_    • 

1837. 

160,676 

19,002  74f 

— 

1849. 

210,770 

33,723  20 

«. 

1838. 

174,984 

19,970  47 

— 

1850. 

182,003 

37,370  51  1| 

.205 

1839. 

180,070 

21,358  81 

— 

1851. 

192,849 

41,462  54 

.215 

1840. 
1841. 

701,331 
179,967 

21,202  64* 
32,109  32§ 

19** 

1852. 
1853. 

198,050 
199,292 

44,066  12 
46,908  10 

.222 
.235 

IStt.  179,917 

24,006  89 

— 

1854. 

202,102 

48,504  48 

.240 

1843.1173,416 

24,094  87 

— 

1855. 

210,761 

46,788  94 

.222 

1844. 

158,193 

22,932  71 

_ 

1856. 

221,902 

44,842  75 

.202 

1845. 

170,823 

28,248  35 

_ 

1857. 

220,336 

46,783  64 

.212 

1846. 

195,032 

30,150  27 

_ 

1858. 

222,860 

46,496  19 

.208 

1847. 

I97j476 

34,511  89 

- 

*  Distributed  among  the  cities  and  towns,  according  to  an  Act  of  1835.  (Stat. 
138,  §  2.) 

t  Distributed  among  the  cities  and  towns,  according  to  the  number  of  persons 
in  each  between  the  ages  of  four  and  sixteen  years.  (Her.  Stat.,  chap.  23, 
§«7.) 

J  Income  distributed  among  the  cities  and  towns,  according  to  population, 
under  an  Act  passed  Feb.  22, 1840.  (Stat.  1840,  chap.  7.)  This  act  was  re 
pealed  by  an  act  passed  Feb  8, 1841.  (Stat.  1841,  chap.  17,  §  2.) 

§  Distributed  among  the  cities  and  towns,  according  to  the  number  of  persons 
In  each  between  the  ages  of  four  and  sixteen  years.  (Stat  1841,  chap.  17* 
**> 

|  Distributed  among  the  cities  and  towns,  according  to  the  number  of  per- 
sons in  each  between  the  ages  of  fire  and  fifteen  yean.  (Stat.  1849,  chap. 
IK,  §2.) 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.         335 

It  was  contemplated  by  the  founders  of  the  school 
fund  that  an  amount  might  safely  be  distributed 
among  the  towns  equal  to  one-third  of  the  sums 
raised  by  taxation,  but  the  state  is  really  furnishing 
only  one-thirtieth  of  the  annual  expenditure.  A  dis- 
tribution corresponding  to  the  original  expectation 
is  neither  desirable  nor  possible  ;  but  a  substantial 
addition  might  be  made  without  in  any  degree  dimin- 
ishing the  interest  of  the  people,  or  relieving  them 
from  taxation.  The  income  of  the  school  fund  has 
been  three  times  used  as  a  means  of  increasing  the 
appropriations  in  the  towns.  It  is  doubtful  whether, 
without  an  addition  to  the  fund,  this  power  can  be 
again  applied  ;  and  yet  there  are,  according  to  the 
last  returns,  twenty- two  towns  that  do  not  raise  a 
sum  for  schools  equal  to  $2.50  for  each  child  between 
the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years  ;  and  there  are 
fifty-two  towns  whose  appropriations  are  less  than 
three  dollars.  When  the  average  annual  expendi- 
ture is  over  six  dollars,  the  minimum  ought  not  to 
be  less  than  three. 

It  is  to  be  considered  that,  as  population  increases, 
the  annual  personal  distribution  will  diminish,  and 
consequently  that  the  bond  now  existing  between 
the  Legislature  and  people  will  be  weakened.  More- 
over, any  definite  sum  of  money  is  worth  less  than  it 
was  twenty  years  ago  ;  and  it  is  reasonably  certain 


336         Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

that  the  same  sum  will  be  less  valuable  in  I860,  and 
yet  less  valuable  in  1870,  than  it  is  now.  Hence,  if 
the  fund  remain  nominally  the  same,  it  yet  suffers  a 
practical  annual  decrease.  It  is  further  to  be  pre- 
sumed that  the  Legislature  will  find  it  expedient  to 
advance  in  its  legislation  from  year  to  year.  A  small 
number  of  towns,  few  or  many,  may  not  always  ap- 
prove of  what  is  done,  and  it  is  quite  important  that 
the  influence  of  the  fund  should  be  sufficient  to  ena- 
ble the  state  to  execute  its  policy  with  uniformity 
and  precision. 

As  is  well  known,  the  expenses  of  the  educational 
department  are  defrayed  from  the  other  half  of  the 
income  of  the  fund.  From  this  income  the  forty-eight 
scholarships  in  the  colleges,  the  Normal  Schools,  the 
Teachers'  Institutes,  the  Agents  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  are  supported,  and  the  salaries  of  the 
Secretary  and  the  Assistant-Secretary  are  paid.  As 
has  been  stated,  the  surplus  carried  to  the  capital  of 
the  fund  in  June  last  was  only  $1,843.68.  The 
objects  of  expenditure,  already  named,  may  be  abol- 
ished, but  no  reasonable  plan  of  economy  can  effect 
much  saving  while  they  exist.  It  is  also  reasonably 
certain  that  the  expenses  of  the*  department  must  be 
increased.  The  law  now  provides  for  twelve  Teach- 
ers' Institutes,  annually,  and  there  were  opportuni- 
ties during  the  present  year  for  holding  them  :  but, 


Massachusetts  School  Fund.         337 

in  order  that  one  agent  might  be  constantly  em- 
ployed, and  a  second  employed  for  the  term  of  six 
months,  I  limited  the  number  of  sessions  to  ten. 

The  salaries  of  the  teachers  in  the  Normal  Schools 
are  low,  and  the  number  of  persons  employed  barely 
adequate  to  the  work  to  be  done.  Some  change,  in- 
volving additional  expense,  is  likely  to  be  called  for 
in  the  course  of  a  few  years. 

In  view  of  the  eminent  aid  which  the  school  fund 
has  rendered  to  the  cause  of  education,  with  due 
deference  to  the  wisdom  and  opinions  of  its  founders, 
and  with  just  regard  to  the  existing  and  probable 
necessities  of  the  state  in  connection  with  the  cause 
of  education,  I  earnestly  favor  the  increase  of  the 
school  fund  by  the  addition  of  a  million  and  a  half 
of  dollars. 

Nor  does  the  proposition  for  the  state  to  appro- 
priate annually  $180,000  in  aid  of  the  common 
schools  seem  unreasonable,  when  it  is  considered 
that  the  military  expenses  are  $65,000,  the  reform- 
atory and  correctional  about  $200,000,  the  charitable 
about  $45,000,  and  the  pauper  expenses  nearly  $250,- 
000  more,  all  of  which  will  diminish  as  our  schools 
are  year  by  year  better  qualified  to  give  thorough 
and  careful  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  culture. 

This  increase  seems  to  be  necessary  in  order  that 
the  Massachusetts  School  Fund  may  furnish  aid  to 
29 


338         Massachusetts  School  Fund. 

the  common  schools  during  the  next  quarter  of  a 
century  proportionate  to  the  relative  influence  ex- 
erted by  the  same  agency  during  the  last  twenty-five 
years.  Nor  will  such  an  addition  give  occasion  for 
any  apprehension  that  the  zeal  of  the  people  will  be 
diminished  in  the  least.  Were  there  to  be  no  in- 
crease of  population  in  the  state,  the  distribution  for 
each  pupil  would  never  exceed  forty  cents,  or  about 
one-fifteenth  of  the  amount  now  raised  by  taxation. 

So  convinced  are  the  people  of  Massachusetts  of 
the  importance  of  common  schools,  and  so  much  are 
they  accustomed  to  taxation  for  their  support,  that 
there  is  no  occasion  to  hesitate,  lest  we  should  fol- 
low the  example  of  those  communities  where  large 
funds,  operating  upon  an  uneducated  and  inexpe- 
rienced popular  opinion,  have  injured  rathjer  than 
benefited  the  public  schools.  The  ancient  policy  of 
the  commonwealth  will  be  continued  ;  but,  whenever 
the  people  see  the  government,  by  solemn  act,  mani- 
festing its  confidence  in  schools  and  learning,  they 
will  be  encouraged  to  guard  and  sustain  tho  institu- 
tions of  the  fathers. 


A  SYSTEM  OF  AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION. 

[An  Address  before  the  Barnstable  Agricultural  Society,  Oct.  8, 1857.] 

IN  the  month  of  February,  1855,  a  distinguished 
American,  who  has  read  much,  and  acquired,  by  con- 
versation, observation,  and  travels  in  this  country 
and  Europe,  the  highest  culture  of  American  society, 
wrote  these  noticeable  sentences:  "The  farmers  have 
not  kept  pace,  in  intelligence,  with  the  rest  of  the 
community.  They  do  not  put  brain-manure  enough 
into  their  acres.  Our  style  of  farming  is  slovenly, 
dawdling,  and  stupid,  and  the  waste,  especially  in 
manure,  is  immense.  I  suppose  we  are  about,  in 
farming,  where  the  Lowlands  of  Scotland  were  fifty 
years  ago  ;  and  what  immense  strides  agriculture 
has  made  in  Great  Britain  since  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo, and  how  impossible  it  would  have  been  for  the 
farmers  to  have  held  their  own  without  I"  * 

It  would  not  be  civil  for  me  to  endorse  these  state- 
ments as  introductory  to  a  brief  address  upon  Agri- 
cultural Education  ;  but  I  should  not  accept  them  at 

*Hon.  George  S.  Hillard. 

(339) 


340  Agricultural  Education. 

all  did  they  not  contain  truth  enough  to  furnish  a 
text  for  a  layman's  discourse  before  an  assembly  of 
farmers. 

Competent  American  travellers  concur  in  the  opin- 
ion that  the  Europeans  generally,  and  especially  our 
brethren  of  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  are  far 
in  advance  of  us  in  scientific  and  practical  agricul- 
ture. This  has  been  stated  or  admitted  by  Mr.  Col- 
man,  President  Hitchcock,  and  last  by  Mr.  French, 
who  has  recently  visited  Europe  under  the  auspices 
of  the  National  Agricultural  Society. 

There  are  good  reasons  for  the  past  and  for  the 
existing  superiority  of  the  Old  World  ;  and  there  are 
good  reasons,  also,  why  this  superiority  should  not 
much  longer  continue.  Europe  is  old,  —  America  is 
young.  Land  has  been  cultivated  for  centuries  in 
Europe,  and  often  by  the  same  family  ;  its  capacity 
tested,  its  fitness  or  unfitness  for  particular  crops 
proved,  the  local  and  special  effects  of  different  fer- 
tilizers well  known,  and  the  experience  of  many  gen- 
erations has  been  preserved,  so  as  to  be  equivalent  to 
a  like  experience,  in  time  and  extent,  by  the  present 
occupants  of  the  soil. 

In  America  there  are  no  family  estates,  nor  long 
occupation  by  the  same  family  of  the  same  spot. 
Cultivated  lands  have  changed  hands  as  often  as 
every  twenty-five  years  from  the  settlement  of  the 


Agricultural  Education.  341 

country.  The  capacity  of  our  soils  to  produce,  when 
laboriously  and  systematically  cultivated,  has  not 
been  ascertained  ;  there  has  been  no  accumulation 
of  experience  by  families,  and  but  little  by  the  pub- 
lic ;  and  the  effort,  in  many  sections,  has  been  to 
draw  as  much  as  possible  from  the  land,  while  little 
or  nothing  was  returned  to  it.  Farming,  as  a  whole, 
has  not  been  a  system  of  cultivation,  which  implies 
improvement,  but  a  process  of  exhaustion.  It  has 
been  easier  for  the  farmer,  though,  perhaps,  not  as 
economical,  if  all  the  elements  necessary  to  a  correct 
opinion  could  be  combined,  to  exchange  his  worn-out 
lands  for  fresh  soils,  than  to  adopt  an  improving  sys- 
tem of  agriculture.  The  present  has  been  consulted  ; 
the  future  has  been  disregarded.  As  the  half-civil- 
ized hunters  of  the  pampas  of  Buenos  Ayres  make 
indiscriminate  slaughter  of  the  myriads  of  wild  cat- 
tle that  roam  over  the  unfenced  prairies  of  the  south, 
and  preserve  the  hides  only  for  the  commerce  and 
comfort  of  the  world,  so  we  have  clutched  from 
nature  whatever  was  in  sight  or  next  at  hand,  re- 
gardless of  the  actual  and  ultimate  wrong  to  physical 
and  vegetable  life  ;  and,  as  the  pioneers  of  a  better 
civilization  now  gather  up  the  bones  long  neglected 
and  bleaching  under  tropical  suns  and  tropical  rains, 
and  by  the  agency  of  trade,  art,  and  industry,  extort 
more  wealth  from  them  than  was  originally  derived 
29* 


342  Agricultural  Education. 

from  the  living  animals,  so  we  shall  find  that  worn- 
out  lands,  when  subjected  to  skilful,  careful,  scientific 
husbandry,  are  quite  as  profitable  as  the  virgin  soils, 
which,  from  the  day  of  the  migration  into  the  Con- 
necticut valley  to  the  occupancy  of  the  Missouri  and 
the  Kansas,  have  proved  so  tempting  to  our  ances- 
tors and  to  us.  But  there  has  been  some  philosophy, 
some  justice,  and  considerable  necessity,  in  the  course 
that  has  been  pursued.  Subsistence  is  the  first  de- 
sire ;  and,  in  new  countries  where  forests  are  to  be 
failed,  dwellings  erected,  public  institutions  estab- 
lished, roads  and  bridges  built,  settlers  cannot  be 
expected,  in  the  cultivation  of  the  land,  to  look 
much  beyond  the  present  moment.  And  they  aro 
entitled  to  the  original  fertility  of  the  soil.  Europe 
passed  through  the  process  of  settlement  and  ex- 
haustion many  centuries  ago.  Her  recovery  has 
been  the  work  of  centuries,  —  ours  maybe  accom- 
plished in  a  few  years,  even  within  the  limits  of  a 
single  life.  The  fact  from  which  an  improving  sys- 
tem of  agriculture  must  proceed  is  apparent  in  the 
northern  and  central  Atlantic  states,  and  is,  in  a 
measure,  appreciated  in  the  West.  Wo  have  all 
heard  that  certain  soils  were  inexhaustible.  The 
statement  was  first  made  of  the  valley  of  the  Con- 
necticut, then  of  the  Genesee  country,  then  of 
Ohio,  then  of  Illinois,  and  occasionally  we  now  hear 


Agricultural  Education.  343 

similar  statements  of  Kansas,  or  California,  or  the 
valley  of  the  Willamette.  In  the  nature  of  things 
these  statements  were  erroneous.  The  idea  of  soil, 
in  reason  and  in  the  use  of  the  word,  contains  the 
idea  of  exhaustion.  Soil  is  not  merely  the  upper 
stratum  of  the  earth  ;  it  is  a  substance  which  pos- 
sesses the  power,  under  certain  circumstances,  of 
giving  up  essential  properties  of  its  own  for  the 
support  of  vegetable  and  ultimately  of  animal  life. 
What  it  gives  up  it  loses,  and  to  the  extent  of  its 
loss  it  is  exhausted.  It  is  no  more  untrue  to  say 
that  the  great  cities  of  the  world  have  not,  in  their 
building,  exhausted  the  forests  and  the  mines  to  any 
extent,  than  to  say  that  the  annual  abundant  har- 
vests of  corn  and  wheat  have  not,  in  any  degree, 
exhausted  the  prairies  and  bottom  lands  of  the  West. 
Some  lands  may  be  exhausted  for  particular  crops  in 
a  single  year  ;  others  in  five  years,  others  in  ten, 
while  others  may  yield  undiminished  returns  for 
twenty,  fifty,  or  even  a  hundred  years.  But  it  is 
plain  that  annual  cropping  without  rotation,  and 
without  compensation  by  nature  or  art,  must  finally 
deprive  the  soil  of  the  required  elements.  Nor  should 
we  deceive  ourselves  by  considering  only  those  ex- 
ceptions whose  existence  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
nature  makes  compensation  for  the  loss.  Annual  or 
occasional  irrigation  with  rich  deposits,  —  as  upon 


344  Agricultural  Education. 

the  Nile  and  the  Connecticut,  —  allowing  the  laud  to 
lie  fallow,  rotation  of  crops  and  the  growth  of  wood, 
are  so  many  expedients  and  provisions  by  which 
nature  increases  the  productiveness  of  the  earth. 
Nor  is  a  great  depth  of  soil,  as  two,  five,  ten,  or 
twenty  feet,  any  security  against  its  ultimate  impov- 
erishment. Only  a  certain  portion  is  available.  It 
has  been  found  in  the  case  of  coal-mines  which  lie  at 
great  depths,  that  they  are,  for  the  present,  value- 
less ;  and  we  cannot  attach  much  importance  to  soil 
that  is  twenty  feet  below  the  surface.  Neither  cul- 
tivation nor  vegetation  can  go  beyond  a  certain 
depth ;  and  wherever  vegetable  life  exists,  its  ele- 
ments are  required  and  appropriated.  Great  depth 
of  soil  is  desirable ;  but,  with  our  present  knowledge 
and  means  of  culture,  it  furnishes  no  security  against 
ultimate  exhaustion. 

The  fact  that  all  soils  are  exhaustible  establishes 
the  necessity  for  agricultural  education,  by  whose 
aid  the  processes  of  impoverishment  may  be  limited 
in  number  and  diminished  in  force  ;  and  the  realiza- 
tion of  this  fact  by  the  public  generally  is  the  only 
justification  necessary  for  those  who  advocate  the 
immediate  application  of  means  to  the  proposed 'end. 

And,  gentlemen,  if  you  will  allow  a  festive  day  to 
be  marred  by  a  single  word  of  criticism,  I  feel  con- 
strained to  say,  that  a  great  obstacle  to  the  in- 


Agricultural  Education.  345 

creased  usefulness,  further  elevation,  and  higher 
respectability,  of  agriculture,  is  in  the  body  of  farm- 
ers themselves.  And  I  assume  this  to  be  so  upon 
the  supposition  that  agriculture  is  not  a  cherished 
pursuit  in  many  farmers'  homes  ;  that  the  head  of 
the  family  often  regards  his  life  of  labor  upon 
the  land  as  a  necessity  from  which  he  would  wil- 
lingly escape ;  that  he  esteems  other  pursuits  as  at 
once  less  laborious,  more  profitable,  and  more  honor- 
able, than  his  own  ;  that  children,  both  sons  and 
daughters,  under  the  influence  of  parents,  both 
father  and  mother,  receive  an  education  at  home, 
which  neither  school,  college,  nor  newspaper,  can 
counteract,  that  leads  them  to  abandon  the  land  for 
the  store,  the  shop,  the  warehouse,  the  professions, 
or  the  sea. 

The  reasonable  hope  of  establishing  a  successful 
system  of  agricultural  education  is  not  great  where 
such  notions  prevail. 

Agriculture  is  not  to  attain  to  true  practical  dig- 
nity by  the  borrowed  lustre  that  eminent  names, 
ancient  and  modern,  may  have  lent  to  it,  any  more 
than  the  earth  itself  is  warmed  and  made  fruitful  by 
the  aurora  borealis  of  an  autumn  night.  Our  system 
of  public  instruction,  from  the  primary  school  to  the 
college,  rests  mainly  upon  the  public  belief  in  its  im- 
portance, its  possibility,  and  its  necessity.  It  is 


346  Agricultural  Education. 

easy  on  a  professional  holiday  to  believe  in  the 
respectability  of  agriculture  ;  but  is  it  a  living  sen- 
timent, controlling  your  conduct,  and  inspiring  you 
with  courage  and  faith  in  your  daily  labor  ?  Does 
it  lead  you  to  contemplate  with  satisfaction  the 
prospect  that  your  son  is  to  be  a  farmer  also,  and 
that  your  daughter  is  to  be  a  farmer's  wife  ?  These, 
I  imagine,  are  test  questions  which  not  all  farmers 
nor  farmers'  wives  can  answer  in  the  affirmative. 
Else,  why  the  custom  among  farmers'  sons  of  mak- 
ing their  escape,  at  the  earliest  moment  possible, 
from  the  labors  and  restraints  of  the  farm  ?  Else, 
why  the  disposition  of  the  farmer's  daughter  to  ac- 
cept other  situations,  not  more  honorable,  and  in 
the  end  not  usually  more  profitable,  than  the  place 
of  household  aid  to  the  business  of  the  home  ?  How, 
then,  can  a  system  of  education  be  prosperous  and 
efficient,  when  those  for  whom  it  is  designed  neither 
respect  their  calling  nor  desire  to  pursue  it  ?  You 
will  not,  of  course,  imagine  that  I  refer,  in  these 
statements,  to  all  farmers ;  there  are  many  excep- 
tions ;  but  my  own  experience  and  observation  lead 
mo  to  place  confidence  in  the  fitness  of  these  re- 
marks, speaking  generally  of  the  farmers  of  New 
England.  It  is,  however,  true,  and  the  statement 
<  l  the  truth  ought  not  to  be  omitted,  that  the  prev- 
alent ideas  among  us  are  much  in  advance  of  what 


Agricultural  Education.  347 

they  were  ten  years  ago.  In  what  has  been  accom- 
plished we  have  ground  for  hope,  and  even  security 
for  further  advancement. 

I  look,  then,  first  and  chiefly  to  an  improved  home 
culture,  as  the  necessary  basis  of  a  system  of  agri- 
cultural education.  Christian  education,  culture,  and 
life,  depend  essentially  upon  the  influences  of  home ; 
and  we  feel  continually  the  importance  of  kindred 
influences  upon  our  common  school  system. 

It  will  not,  of  course,  be  wise  to  wait,  in  the 
establishment  of  a  system  of  agricultural  education, 
until  we  are  satisfied  that  every  farmer  is  prepared 
for  it ;  in  the  beginning  sufficient  support  may  be 
derived  from  a  small  number  of  persons,  but  in  the 
end  it  must  be  sustained  by  the  mass  of  those  inter- 
ested. Other  pursuits  and  professions  must  meet 
the  special  claims  made  upon  them,  and  in  the  matter 
of  agricultural  education  they  cannot  be  expected 
to  do  more  than  assent  to  what  the  farmers  them- 
selves may  require. 

An  important  part  of  a  system  of  agricultural 
education  has  been,  as  it  seems  to  me,  already 
established.  I  speak  of  our  national,  state,  county, 
and  town  associations  for  the  promotion  of  agri- 
culture. The  first  three  may  educate  the  people 
through  their  annual  fairs,  by  their  publications, 
and  by  the  collection  and  distribution  of  rare  seeds, 


348  Agricultural  Education. 

plants,  and  animals,  that  are  not  usually  within  reach 
of  individual  farmers.  By  such  means,  and  others 
less  noticeable,  these  agencies  can  exert  a  powerful 
influence  upon  the  farmers  of  the  country ;  but  their 
thorough,  systematic  education  must  be  carried  on 
at  home.  And  for  local  and  domestic  education  I 
think  we  must  rely  upon  our  public  schools,  upon 
town  clubs  or  associations  of  farmers,  and  upon 
scientific  men  who  may  be  appointed  by  the  govern- 
ment to  visit  the  towns,  confer  with  the  people,  and 
receive  and  communicate  information  upon  the  agri- 
cultural resources  and  defects  of  the  various  locali- 
ties. It  will  be  observed  that  in  this  outline  of  a 
plan  of  education  I  omit  the  agricultural  college. 
This  omission  is  intentional,  and  I  will  state  my 
reasons  for  it.  I  sjieak,  however,  of  the  present ; 
the  time  may  come  when  such  an  institution  will  be 
needed.  In  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Benjamin  Bussey 
has  made  provision  for  a  college  at  Roxbury,  and 
Mr.*  Oliver  Smith  has  made  similar  provision  for  a 
college  at  Northampton  ;  but  these  bequests  will  not 
be  available  for  many  years.  In  England,  Ireland, 
Scotland,  France,  Belgium,  Prussia,  Russia,  Austria, 
and  the  smaller  states  of  Europe,  agricultural  schools 
and  colleges  have  been  established ;  arid  they  appear 
to  be  the  most  numerous  where  the  ignorance  of  the 
people  is  the  greatest.  England  has  five  colleges 


Agricultural  Education.  349 

and  schools,  Ireland  sixty-three,  while  Scotland  has 
only  a  professorship  in  each  of  her  colleges  at  Aber- 
deen and  Edinburgh.  In  France,  there  are  seventy- 
five  agricultural  schools  ;  but  in  seventy  of  them  — 
called  inferior  schools  —  the  instruction  is  a  com- 
pound of  that  given  in  our  public  schools  and  the 
discipline  of  a  good  farmer  upon  his  land,  with  some 
special  attention  to  agricultural  reading  and  farm 
accounts.  Such  schools  are  not  desired  and  would 
not  be  patronized  among  us.  When  an  agricultural 
school  is  established,  it  must  be  of  a  higher  grade, 
—  it  must  take  rank  with  the  colleges  of  the  country. 
President  Hitchcock,  in  his  report,  published  in 
1851,  states  that  six  professors  would  be  required  ; 
that  the  first  outlay  would  be  sixty-seven  thousand 
dollars,  and  that  the  annual  expense  would  be  six 
thousand  and  two  hundred  dollars.  By  these  ar- 
rangements and  expenditures  he  contemplates  the 
education  of  one  hundred  students,  who  are  to  pay 
annually  each  for  tuition  the  sum  of  forty  dollars. 
It  was  also  proposed  to  connect  an  agricultural  de- 
partment with  several  of  the  existing  academies,  at 
an  annual  expense  of  three  thousand  dollars  more. 
These  estimates  of  cost  seem  low,  nor  do  I  find  in 
this  particular  any  special  objection  to  the  recom- 
mendation made  by  the  commissioners  of  the  govern- 


350  Agricultural  Education. 

ment;   any  other   scheme   is  likely  to  be  quite  as 
expensive  in  the  end. 

My  chief  objection  is,  that  such  a  plan  is  not  com- 
prehensive enough,  and  cannot,  in  a  reasonable  time, 
sensibly  affect  the  average  standard  of  agricultural 
learning  among  us.  The  graduation  of  fifty  students 
a  year  would  be  equal  to  one  in  a  thousand  or  fifteen 
hundred  of  the  farmers  of  the  state  ;  and  in  ten 
years  there  would  not  be  one  professionally  educated 
farmer  in  a  hundred.  We  are  not,  of  course,  to 
overlook  the  indirect  influence  of  such  a  school, 
through  its  students  annually  sent  forth :  the  better 
modes  of  culture  adopted  by  them  would,  to  some 
extent,  be  copied  by  others  ;  nor  are  we  to  overlook 
the  probability  of  a  prejudice  against  the  institution 
and  its  graduates,  growing  out  of  the  republican 
ideas  of  equality  prevailing  among  us.  But  the 
struggle  against  mere  prejudice  would  be  an  honor- 
able struggle,  if,  in  the  hour  of  victory,  the  college 
could  claim  to  have  reformed  and  elevated  materially 
the  practices  and  ideas  of  the  farmers  of  the  country. 
I  fear  that  even  victory  under  such  circumstances 
would  not  bo  complete  success.  An  institution 
established  in  New  England  must  look  to  the  exist- 
ing peculiarities  of  our  country,  rather  than  venture 
at  once  upon  the  adoption  of  schemes  that  may  have 
been  successful  elsewhere.  Here  every  farmer  is  a 


Agricultural  Education.  351 

laborer  himself,  employing  usually  from  one  to  three 
hands,  and  they  are  often  persons  who  look  to  the 
purchase  and  cultivation  of  a  farm  on  their  own 
account ;  while  in  England  the  master  farmer  is  an 
overseer  rather  than  a  laborer.  The  number  of  men 
in  Europe  who  own  land  or  work  it  on  their  own 
account  is  small ;  the  number  of  laborers  whose 
labors  are  directed  by  the  proprietors  and  farmers  is 
quite  large.  Under  these  circumstances,  if  the  few 
are  educated,  the  work  will  go  successfully  on  ; 
while  here,  our  agricultural  education  ought  to  reach 
the  great  body  of  those  who  labor  upon  the  land. 
Will  a  college  in  each  state  answer  the  demand  for 
agricultural  education  now  existing?  Is  it  safe  in 
any  country,  or  in  any  profession  or  pursuit,  to 
educate  a  few,  and  leave  the  majority  to  the  indirect 
influence  of  the  culture  thus  bestowed  ?  And  is  it 
philosophical,  in  this  country,  where  there  is  a 
degree  of  personal  and  professional  freedom  such  as 
is  nowhere  else  enjoyed,  to  found  a  college  or  higher 
institution  of  learning  upon  the  general  and  admitted 
ignorance  of  the  people  in  the  given  department  ? 
or  is  it  wiser,  by  elementary  training  and  the  univer- 
sal diffusion  of  better  ideas,  to  make  the  establish- 
ment of  the  college  the  necessity  of  the  culture 
previously  given  ?  Every  new  school,  not  a  college, 
makes  the  demand  for  the  college  course  greater 


352  Agricultural  Education. 

than  it  was  before ;  and  the  advance  made  in  our 
public  schools  increases  the  students  in  the  colleges 
and  the  university.  We  build  from  the  primary 
school  to  the  college  ;  and  without  the  primary 
school  and  its  dependents,  —  the  grammar,  high 
school,  and  academy, — the  colleges  would  cease  to 
exist.  This  view  of  education  supports  the  state- 
ment that  an  agricultural  college  is  not  the  founda- 
tion of  a  system  of  agricultural  training,  but  a 
result  that  is  to  be  reached  through  a  preliminary 
and  elementary  course  of  instruction.  What  shall 
that  course  be  ?  I  say,  first,  the  establishment  of 
town  or  neighborhood  societies  of  farmers  and  others 
interested  in  agriculture.  These  societies  ought  to 
be  auxiliary  to  the  county  societies,  and  they  never 
can  become  their  rivals  or  enemies  unless  they  are 
grossly  perverted  in  their  management  and  pur- 
poses. As  such  societies  must  be  mutual  and 
voluntary  in  their  character,  they  can  be  established 
in  any  town  where  there  are  twenty,  ten,  or  even 
five  persons  who  are  disposed  to  unite  together.  Its 
object  would,  of  course,  be  the  advancement  of 
practical  agriculture  ;  and  it  would  look  to  theories 
and  even  to  science  as  means  only  for  the  attainment 
of  a  specified  end.  The  exercises  of  such  societies 
would  vary  according  to  the  tastes  and  plans  of 
the  members  and  directors ;  but  they  would  naturally 


Agricultural  Education.  353 

provide  for  discussions  and  conversations  among 
themselves,  lectures  from  competent  persons,  the 
establishment  of  a  library,  and  for  the  collection  of 
models  and  drawings  of  domestic  animals,  models  of 
varieties  of  fruit,  specimens  of  seeds,  grasses,  and 
grains,  rocks,  minerals,  and  soils.  The  discussions 
and  conversations  would  be  based  upon  the  actual 
observation  and  experience  of  the  members  ;  and 
agriculture  would  at  once  become  better  under- 
stood and  more  carefully  practised  by  each  person 
who  intended  to  contribute  to  the  exercises  of  the 
meeting. 

Until  the  establishment  of  agricultural  journals, 
there  were  no  means  by  which  the  results  of  individ- 
ual experience  could  be  made  known  to  the  mass  of 
farmers  ;  and,  even  now,  men  of  the  largest  experi- 
ence are  not  the  chief  contributors. 

Wherever  a  local  club  exists,  it  is  always  possible 
to  compare  the  knowledge  of  the  different  members  ; 
and  the  results  of  such  comparison  may,  when  deemed 
desirable,  be  laid  before  the  public  at  large.  It  is 
also  in  the  power  of  such  an  organization  thoroughly 
and  at  once  to  test  any  given  experiment.  The 
attention  of  this  section  of  the  country  has  been 
directed  to  the  culture  of  the  Chinese  sugar-cane  ; 
and  merchants,  economists,  and  statesmen,  as  well 
as  the  farmers  themselves,  are  interested  in  the 
30* 


354  Agricultural  Education. 

speedy  and  satisfactory  solution  of  so  important  an 
industrial  problem.  Had  the  attention  of  a  few 
local  societies  in  different  parts  of  New  England 
been  directed  to  the  culture,  with  special  reference 
to  its  feasibility  and  profitableness,  a  definite  result 
might  have  been  reached  the  present  year.  The 
growth  of  flax,  both  in  the  means  of  cultivation  and 
in  economy,  is  a  subject  of  great  importance.  Many 
other  crops  might  also  be  named,  concerning  which 
opposite,  not  to  say  vague,  opinions  prevail.  The 
local  societies  may  make  these  trials  through  the 
agency  of  individual  members  better  than  they  can 
be  made  by  county  and  state  societies,  and  better 
than  they  can  usually  be  made  upon  model  or 
experimental  farms.  It  will  often  happen  upon 
experimental  farms  that  the  circumstances  do  not 
correspond  to  the  condition  of  things  among  the 
farmers.  The  combined  practical  wisdom  of  such 
associations  must  be  very  great ;  and  I  have  but  to 
refer  to  the  published  minutes  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  Concord  Club*  to  justify  this  statement  in  its 
broadest  sense.  The  meetings  of  such  a  club  have 
all  the  characteristics  of  a  school  of  the  highest 
order.  Each  member  is  at  the  same  time  a  teacher 
and  a  pupil.  The  meeting  is  to  the  farmer  what  the 
court-room  is  to  the  lawyer,  the  hospital  to  the 


Agricultural  Education.  355 

physician,  and  the  legislative  assembly  to  the  states- 
man. 

Moot  courts  alone  will  not  make  skilful  lawyers  ; 
the  manikin  is  but  an  indifferent  teacher  of  anatomy  ; 
and  we  may  safely  say  that  no  statesman  was  ever 
made  so  by  books,  schools,  and  street  discussions, 
without  actual  experience  in  some  department  of 
government. 

It  is,  of  course,  to  be  expected  that  an  agricultural 
college  would  have  the  means  of  making  experi- 
ments ;  but  each  experiment  could  be  made  only 
under  a  single  set  of  circumstances,  while  the  agency 
of  local  societies,  in  connection  with  other  parts  of 
the  plan  that  I  have  the  honor  diffidently  to  present, 
would  convert  at  once  a  county  or  a  state  into  an 
experimental  farm  for  a  given  time  and  a  given  pur- 
pose. The  local  club  being  always  practical  and 
never  theoretical,  dealing  with  things  always  and 
never  with  signs,  presenting  only  facts  and  never 
conjectures,  would,  as  a  school  for  the  young  farmer, 
be  quite  equal,  and  in  some  respects  superior,  to 
any  that  the  government  can  establish.  But,  it 
may  be  asked,  will  you  call  that  a  school  which  is 
merely  an  assembly  of  adults  without  a  teacher  ?  I 
answer  that  technically  it  is  not  a  school,  but  that 
in  reality  such  an  association  is  a  school  in  the  best 
use  of  the  word.  A  school  is,  first,  for  the  develop- 


356  Agricultural  Education. 

raent  of  powers  and  qualities  whose  germs  already 
exist;  then  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  pre- 
viously possessed  by  others  ;  then  for  the  prosecution 
of  original  inquiries  and  investigations.  The  asso- 
ciations of  which  I  speak  would  possess  all  these 
powers,  and  contemplate  all  these  results  ;  but  that 
their  powers  might  be  more  efficient,  and  for  the 
advancement  of  agriculture  generally,  it  seems  to  me 
fit  and  proper  for  the  state  to  appoint  scientific  and 
practical  men  as  agents  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture, 
and  lecturers  upon  agricultural  science  and  labor. 
If  an  agricultural  college  were  founded,  a  farm  would 
be  required,  and  at  least  six  professors  would  be 
necessary.  Instead  of  a  single  farm,  with  a  hundred 
young  men  upon  it,  accept  gratuitously,  as  you 
would  no  doubt  have  opportunity,  the  use  of  many 
farms  for  experiments  and  repeated  trials  of  crops, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  educate,  not  a  hundred  only, 
but  many  thousand  young  men,  nearly  as  well  in 
theory  and  science,  and  much  better  in  practical 
labor,  than  they  could  be  educated  in  a  college. 
Six  professors,  as  agents,  could  accomplish  a  large 
amount  of  necessary  work ;  possibly,  for  the  pres- 
ent, all  that  would  be  desired.  Assume,  for  this 
inquiry,  that  Massachusetts  contains  three  hundred 
agricultural  towns ;  divide  these  towns  into  sections 
of  fifty  each  ;  then  assign  one  section  to  each  agent, 


Agricultural  Education.  357 

with  the  understanding  that  his  work  for  the  year  is 
to  be  performed  in  that  section,  and  then  that  he  is 
to  be  transferred  to  another.  By  a  rotation  of 
appointments  and  a  succession  of  labors,  the  varied 
attainments  of  the  lecturers  would  be  enjoyed  by  the 
whole  commonwealth.  But,  it  may  be  asked,  what, 
specifically  stated,  shall  the  work  of  the  agents  be  ? 
Only  suggestions  can  be  offered  in  answer  to  this 
inquiry.  An  agent  might,  in  the  summer  season, 
visit  his  fifty  towns,  and  spend  two  days  in  each. 
While  there,  he  could  ascertain  the  kinds  of  crops, 
modes  of  culture,  nature  of  soils,  practical  excel- 
lences, and  practical  defects,  of  the  farmers  ;  and 
he  might  also  provide  for  such  experiments  as  he 
desired  to  have  made.  It  would,  likewise,  be  in  his 
power  to  give  valuable  advice,  where  it  might  be 
needed,  in  regard  to  farming  proper,  and  also  to  the 
erection  and  repair  of  farm-buildings.  I  am  satisfied 
that  a  competent  agent  would,  in  this  last  particular 
alone,  save  to  the  people  a  sum  equal  to  the  entire 
cost  of  his  services.  After  this  labor  was  accom- 
plished, eight  months  would  remain  for  the  prepara- 
tion and  delivery  of  lectures  in  the  fifty  towns 
previously  visited.  These  lectures  might  be  deliv- 
ered in  each  town,  or  the  agent  might  hold  meetings 
of  the  nature  of  institutes  in  a  number  of  towns 
centrally  situated.  In  either  case,  the  lectures  would 


358  Agricultural  Education. 

be  at  once  scientific  and  practical ;  and  their  prac- 
tical character  would  be  appreciated  in  the  fact  that 
a  judicious  agent  would  adapt  his  lectures  to  the 
existing  state  of  things  in  the  given  locality.  This 
could  not  be  done  by  a  college,  however  favorably 
situated,  and  however  well  accomplished  in  the 
material  of  education.  It  is  probable  that  the  lec- 
tures would  be  less  scientific  than  those  that  would 
be  given  in  a  college  ;  but  when  their  superior  prac- 
tical character  is  considered,  and  when  we  consider 
also  that  they  would  be  listened  to  by  the  great  body 
of  farmers,  old  and  young,  while  those  of  the  college 
could  be  enjoyed  by  a  small  number  of  youth  only, 
we  cannot  doubt  which  would  be  the  most  beneficial 
to  the  state,  and  to  the  cause  of  agriculture  in  the 
country. 

An  objection  to  the  plan  I  have  indicated  may  be 
found  in  the  belief  that  the  average  education  of  the 
farmers  is  not  equal  to  a  full  appreciation  of  the 
topics  and  lectures  to  be  presented.  My  answer  is, 
that  the  lecturers  must  meet  the  popular  intelli- 
gence, whatever  it  is.  Nothing  is  to  be  assumed  by 
the  teacher  ;  it  is  his  first  duty  to  ascertain  the 
qualifications  of  his  pupils.  I  am,  however,  led  to 
the  opinion  that  the  schools  of  the  country  have 
already  laid  a  very  good  basis  for  practical  instruc- 
tion in  agriculture  ;  and,  if  this  bo  not  so,  then  an 


Agricultural  Education.  359 

additional  argument  will  be  offered  for  the  most  rapid 
advance  possible  in  our  systems  of  education.  In 
any  event,  it  is  true  that  the  public  schools  furnish  a 
large  part  of  the  intellectual  culture  gi-ven  in  the 
inferior  and  intermediate  agricultural  schools  of 
Europe. 

The  great  defect  in  the  plan  I  have  presented  is 
this  :  That  no  means  are  provided  for  the  thorough 
education  needed  by  those  persons  who  are  to  be 
appointed  agents,  and  no  provision  is  made  for  test- 
ing the  qualities  of  soils,  and  the  elements  of  grains, 
grasses,  and  fruits.  My  answer  to  this  suggestion 
is,  that  it  is  in  part,  at  least,  well  founded  ;  but  that 
the  scientific  schools  furnish  a  course  of  study  in 
the  natural  sciences  which  must  be  satisfactory  to 
the  best  educated  farmer  or  professor  of  agricultural 
learning,  and  that  analyses  may  be  made  in  the 
laboratories  of  existing  institutions. 

It  is  my  fortune  to  be  able  to  read  a  letter  from 
Professor  Hereford,  which  furnishes  a  satisfactory 
view  of  the  ability  of  the  Scientific  School  at 
Cambridge. 

"Cambridge,  Sept.  19,  1857. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  The  occupation  incident  to  the 
opening  of  the  term  has  prevented  an  earlier 
answer  to  your  letter  of  inquiry  in  regard  to  the 
Scientific  School. 


360  Agricultural  Education. 

"The  Scientific  School  furnishes,  I  believe,  the 
necessary  scientific  knowledge  for  students  of  agri- 
culture (such  as  you  mention),  'who  have  been  well 
educated  at  our  high  schools,  academies,  or  colleges, 
and  have  also  been  trained  practically  in  the  business 
of  farming.'  It  provides: 

"  1st.  Practical  instruction  in  the  modes  of  exper- 
imental investigation.  This  is,  I  know,  an  unrecog- 
nized department,  but  it  is,  perhaps,  the  better  suited 
name  to  the  course  of  instruction  of  our  chemical 
department.  It  qualifies  the  student  for  the  most 
direct  methods  of  solving  the  practical  problems 
which  are  constantly  arising  in  practical  agriculture. 
It  includes  the  analysis  of  soils,  the  manufacture 
and  testing  of  manures,  the  philosophy  of  improved 
methods  of  culture,  of  rotation  of  crops,  of  dairy 
production,  of  preserving  fruits,  meats,  &c.  It  ap- 
plies more  or  less  directly  to  the  whole  subject  of 
mechanical  expedients. 

"  2d.  Practical  instruction  in  surveying,  mensura- 
tion, and  drawing. 

"  3d.  And  by  lectures  —  in  botany,  geology, 
zoology,  comparative  anatomy,  and  natural  phi- 
losophy. 

"  Some  of  them  —  indeed,  all  of  them,  if  desired 
—  might  be  pursued  practically,  and  with  the  use  of 
apparatus  and  specimens. 


Agricultural  Education.  361 

"  This  course  contemplates  a  period  of  study  of 
from  one  year  to  two  and  a  half  years,  according  to 
the  qualification  of  the  pupil  at  the  outset.  He  ap- 
pears an  hour  each  day  at  the  blackboard,  where  he 
shares  the  drill  of  a  class,  and  where  he  acquires 
a  facility  of  illustration,  command  of  language,  an 
address  and  thorough  consciousness  of  real  knowl- 
edge, which  are  of  more  value,  in  many  cases,  as 
you  know,  than  almost  any  amount  of  simple  acqui- 
sition. He  also  attends,  on  an  average,  about  one 
lecture  a  day  throughout  the  year.  During  the  re- 
maining time  he  is  occupied  with  experimental  work 
in  the  laboratory  or  field. 

"  The  great  difficulty  with  students  of  agriculture, 
who  might  care  to  come  to  the  Scientific  School,  is 
the  expense  of  living  in  Cambridge.  If  some  farmer 
at  a  distance  of  three  or  four  miles  from  college, 
where  rents  for  rooms  are  low,  would  open  a  board- 
ing-house for  students  of  agriculture  in  the  Scientific 
School,  where  the  care  of  a  kitchen  garden  and  some 
stock  might  be  intrusted  to  them,  and  where  a  farm- 
er's plain  table  might  be  spread  at  the  price  at  which 
laborers  would  be  received,  we  might  hope  that  our 
facilities  would  be  taken  advantage  of  on  a  larger 
scale.  As  it  is,  but  few,  comparatively,  among  our 
students,  come  to  qualify  themselves  for  farming.'' 
31 


362  Agricultural  Education. 

I  should,  however,  consider  the  arrangements  pro- 
posed as  temporary,  and  finally  to  be  abandoned  or 
made  permanent,  as  experience  should  dictate. 

It  may  be  said,  I  think,  without  disparagement  to 
the  many  distinguished  and  disinterested  men  who 
have  labored  for  the  advancement  of  agriculture, 
that  the  operations  of  the  government  and  of  the 
state  and  county  societies  have  no  plan  or  sys- 
tem by  which,  as  a  whole,  they  are  guided.  The 
county  societies  have  been  and  are  the  chief  means 
of  influence  and  progress  ;  but  they  have  no  power 
which  can  be  systematically  applied  ;  their  move- 
ments are  variable,  and  their  annual  exhibitions 
do  not  always  indicate  the  condition  of  agriculture 
in  the  districts  represented.  They  have  become,  to 
a  certain  extent,  localized  in  the  vicinity  of  the  towns 
where  the  fairs  are  held  ;  and  yet  they  do  not  possess 
the  vigor  which  institutions  positively  local  would 
enjoy. 

The  town  clubs  hold  annual  fairs  ;  and  these  fairs 
should  be  made  tributary,  in  their  products  and  in 
the  interest  they  excite,  to  the  county  fairs.  Let 
the  town  fairs  be  held  as  early  in  the  season  as  prac- 
ticable, and  then  let  each  town  send  to  the  county 
fairs  its  first-class  premium  articles  as  the  contribu- 
tions of  the  local  society,  as  well  as  of  the  individual 
producers.  Thus  a  healthful  and  generous  rivalry 


Agricultural  Education.  363 

would  be  stirred  up  between  the  towns  of  a  county 
as  well  as  among  the  citizens  of  each  town  ;  and  a 
county  exhibition  upon  the  plan  suggested  would 
represent  at  one  view  the  general  condition  of  agri- 
culture in  the  vicinity.  No  one  can  pretend  that 
this  is  accomplished  by  the  present  arrangements. 
Moreover,  the  county  society,  in  its  management  and 
in  its  annual  exhibitions,  would  possess  an  import- 
ance which  it  had  not  before  enjoyed.  As  each  town 
would  be  represented  by  the  products  of  the  dairy, 
the  herd,  and  the  field,  so  it  would  be  represented  by 
its  men  ;  and  the  annual  fair  of  the  county  would  be 
a  truthful  and  complete  exposition  of  its  industrial 
standing  and  power. 

Out  of  a  system  thus  broad,  popular,  and  strong, 
an  agricultural  college  will  certainly  spring,  if  such 
an  institution  shall  be  needed.  But  is  it  likely  that 
in  a  country  where  the  land  is  divided,  arid  the  num- 
ber of  farmers  is  great,  the  majority  will  ever  be 
educated  in  colleges,  and  upon  strict  scientific  prin- 
ciples ?  I  am  ready  to  answer  that  such  an  expect- 
ation seems  to  me  a  mere  delusion.  The  great  body 
of  young  farmers  must  be  educated  by  the  example 
and  practices  of  their  elders,  by  their  own  efforts  at 
individual  and  mutual  improvement,  and  by  the  influ- 
ence of  agricultural  journals,  books,  lecturers,  and 
the  example  of  thoroughly  educated  men.  And,  as 


364  Agricultural  Education. 

thoroughly  educated  men,  lecturers,  journals,  ami 
books  of  a  proper  character,  cannot  be  furnished 
without  the  aid  of  scientific  schools  and  thorough 
culture,  the  farmers,  as  a  body,  are  interested  in 
the  establishment  of  all  institutions  of  learning  which 
promise  to  advance  any  number  of  men,  however 
small,  in  the  mysteries  of  the  profession  ;  but,  when 
we  design  a  system  of  education  for  a  class,  common 
wisdom  requires  us  to  contemplate  its  influence  upon 
each  individual.  The  influence  of  a  single  college  in 
any  state,  or  in  each  state  of  this  Union,  would  be 
exceedingly  limited ;  but  local  societies  and  travel- 
ling lecturers  could  make  an  appreciable  impression 
in  a  year  upon  the  agricultural  population  of  any 
state,  and  in  New  England  the  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject is  such  that  there  is  no  difficulty  in  founding 
town  clubs,  and  making  them  at  once  the  agents  of 
the  government  and  the  schools  for  the  people. 

In  the  plan  indicated,  I  have,  throughout,  assumed 
the  disposition  of  the  farmers  to  educate  themselves. 
This  assumption  implies  a  certain  degree  of  educa- 
tion already  attained  ;  for  a  consciousness  of  the 
necessity  of  education  is  only  developed  by  culture, 
learning,  and  reflection.  Such  being  the  admitted 
fact,  it  remains  that  the  farmers  themselves  ought  at 
once  to  institute  such  means  of  self-improvement  as 
are  at  their  command.  They  are,  in  nearly  every 


Agricultural  Education.  365 

state  of  this  Union,  a  majority  of  the  voters,  and  the 
controlling  force  of  society  and  the  government ; 
but  I  do  not  from  these  facts  infer  the  propriety  of  a 
reliance  on  their  part  upon  the  powers  which  they 
may  thus  direct.  However  wisely  said,  when  first 
said,  it  is  not  wise  to  "look  to  the  government  for 
too  much  ; "  and  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt 
of  the  ability  of  the  farmers  to  institute  and  perfect 
such  measures  of  self-education  as  are  at  present 
needed.  But  the  spirit  in  which  they  enter  upon 
this  work  must  be  broad,  comprehensive,  catholic. 
They  will  find  something,  I  hope,  of  example,  some- 
thing of  motive,  something  of  power,  in  their  ex- 
perience as  friends  and  supporters  of  our  system  of 
common  school  education  ;  and  something  of  all 
these,  I  trust,  in  the  facts  that  this  system  is  kept 
in  motion  by  the  self-imposed  taxation  of  the  whole 
people  ;  that  all  individuals  and  classes  of  men,  for- 
getting their  differences  of  opinion  in  politics  and 
religion,  rally  to  its  support,  as  being  in  itself  a  safe 
basis  on  which  may  be  built  whatever  structures 
men  of  wisdom  and  virtue  and  piety  may  desire  to 
erect,  whether  they  labor  first  and  chiefly  for  the 
world  that  is,  or  for  that  which  is  to  come. 
31* 


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